A major flooding disaster struck the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday, leaving nearly 2,000 people unaccounted for and an official death toll approaching 600 on Friday. Among those missing are at least 90 American citizens, three of whom have been safely rescued as of Thursday. The State Department confirmed it is not aware of any US citizen deaths at this time.
Many of the missing Americans were participating in religious pilgrimages to Mount Kailash, a sacred site in Tibet honored by Hinduism, Buddhism, and other faiths. Twenty-two Americans were part of a group of 80 members from the Isha Foundation, an India-based spiritual organization with a US campus in Tennessee, who remain unlocated. According to Leslie Crespi, a community liaison for the foundation’s US operations, the trekking group had just arrived in the affected area around 9:05 a.m. local time Wednesday before the flash flood struck at 9:14 a.m.
Among the missing are individuals such as 45-year-old Venus Rajnikant Patel from Cincinnati, who had been planning the pilgrimage for two years, and 72-year-old Jitendra Patel of Long Island, who called his family Wednesday morning to report crossing into Tibet. Also missing are Rekha and Rashi Shashidharan, a mother and 14-year-old daughter from New York who were traveling with a tour group and had last been in contact around 7:30 a.m. local time Wednesday before crossing into Tibet.
In response to the disaster, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States stands ready to assist Nepal’s government with humanitarian aid. The US Embassy in Nepal announced it would provide $500,000 in assistance through a global grant to Catholic Relief Services, which will support flood-affected communities with emergency shelter, relief supplies, water sanitation, and hygiene support.
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