‘We can’t lose hope’: Gujarat families anxiously await word from loved ones stranded in Nepal

For families of pilgrims, including NRIs with a Gujarat link who were on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage when the flash floods struck the Nepal-Tibet region, the anxious wait is traumatising, and the devastating visuals of destruction are distressing, but they have not lost hope. 

The number of untraceable persons rose to 26, including several NRIs from Gujarat, according to a list released by the State Emergency Operations Centre on Friday.

Several NRIs from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have links to Ahmedabad, Anand, Rajkot, Valsad, Surat, Kheda, Amreli, Gandhinagar and Vadodara, it said. “It’s difficult to see the horrific visuals of flash floods in Nepal, but we can’t lose hope,” said Rajkot resident Viral Nathwani, whose cousins are among those currently untraceable. Nathwani said his cousin Jay Kotecha, a Mumbai resident, and Roma Intwala of Valsad were last contacted on Wednesday when they were near the Friendship Bridge and heading towards the immigration building.

He said around 56 people who had travelled through the same Mumbai-based Hills and Trails travel agency are currently unreachable.

In Vadodara, Chirag Patel is anxiously awaiting news of his sister Kinnari Patel and her husband Mihir Patel, both NRIs who have been living in New Zealand for the past 25 years. The couple had travelled to Kathmandu on August 23 to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

“I was waiting to hear from my sister yesterday on Raksha Bandhan. We were supposed to celebrate it after their arrival back in Gujarat,” Chirag said. The couple had travelled to Kathmandu on August 23 to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Chirag said. “I hope they are fine and come back soon. I am just praying to Lord Shiva that they come back,” he added. For another family, hope rests on the possibility that poor network connectivity, rather than the floods, has cut off communication with their loved ones.

Paresh Patel and his wife Jyoti Patel, and his sister Minaxi Ramani had completed immigration and were proceeding towards Kailash Mansarovar when they became unreachable, a relative, Gita Patel, said.

Paresh and Jyoti are US residents, while Minaxi had joined them from Mumbai for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage. “Paresh had called his mother, Sushilaben Patel, who is around 80 years old, and told her that they had completed immigration and were going to Kailash Mansarovar, where there might be a network issue,” Gita Patel recalled. She said the family hopes that it is just a network issue and that they will contact them soon, as her sister is desperately waiting for them.