Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], August 28 (ANI): An Ahmedabad resident, Bhavin Raval, has gone missing in Nepal following devastating flash floods that struck the region during his pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar.
His family said that communication with him was lost on Wednesday morning, after telecommunication infrastructure in the border region collapsed due to the natural disaster.
Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Bhavin’s brother, Dhaval Raval, expressed deep concern over the lack of contact.
“My brother, Bhavin Raval, was in Nepal during the incident. He was on a journey to Kailash Mansarovar. He set out for the pilgrimage from Nepal on Wednesday morning,” Dhaval said.
Recalling the last conversation, he added, “The following day, I spoke to him from Kathmandu around 6:30 or 7:00 AM… Later that morning, he spoke to my sister-in-law and mentioned that the Nepal immigration formalities were complete. He had left for the Tibet immigration checkpoint, where he learned that the process was scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM; he was present at the location between 7:30 and 8:00 AM.”
The family has been unable to reach him since that final update.
“There has been no communication since then. We have been trying to call and have left messages, but the situation is difficult; telecommunication towers have collapsed, making it impossible to get through,” Dhaval explained.
Bhavin was travelling with two close friends at the time of the incident.
“Two of his close friends were with him. Apart from them, there were 26 other people in the tour group organised by the agency handling the Kailash journey,” his brother said.
As many as 389 bodies have been recovered, and 977 people remain missing following the Bhote Koshi flood in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said in its latest status report released on Thursday.
The report said the figures were compiled based on details received from the District Administration Office and District and National Emergency Operation Centres and cover the emergency created by the Bhote Koshi flood in Rasuwa and the major search and rescue operations. (ANI)
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