Two of 39 missing West Bengal residents found safe after Nepal floods: CM Adhikari
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Friday that two out of 39 people from West Bengal who had gone missing in Nepal's flash floods have now been traced and confirmed safe, with search efforts continuing for the rest.
During a virtual interaction with the relatives of those still missing, he said that two members of one particular family had managed to get in touch, both with their own relatives and with the state administration.
According to the chief minister, the pair were currently near Birgunj in Nepal, and steps were being taken to bring them back home. He also reassured the remaining anxious families that the government was leaving no stone unturned in tracking down their loved ones.
"A total of 39 people were missing. Of them, two of a family could be contacted by their family members and the state government. We could not get in touch with 37 others," he said.
The virtual meeting, held from Bhabani Bhavan, the West Bengal Police headquarters, was also attended by senior police officials.
Adhikari said the list of missing persons shared by the Indian High Commission in Nepal had confirmed that 32 tourists from Bengal, who had visited the Himalayan nation as part of a trip arranged by a tourism company, remained untraced.
He said the state had written to the Centre seeking permission to send a team to Nepal to help local authorities with the ongoing search operation.
This team, he added, would include an MP, an MLA, an IG-rank police officer, and an official at the level of secretary or joint secretary, and would require clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) before it could travel to Nepal.
Families of the missing, during the meeting, brought up multiple concerns and asked for a proper channel through which they could pass on information and stay updated.
"The state government will set up a WhatsApp group for the families," Adhikari said.
Among those unaccounted for, some had gone to Nepal on pilgrimage, while others were there purely as tourists, and a number were journeying along the Kailash Mansarovar route.
Adhikari said the administration was also weighing whether relatives of the missing could themselves travel to Nepal or Tibet to help search for their family members.
The disaster was triggered when an ice-rock landslide blocked a river close to Nepal's border with China, unleashing a flash flood that has devastated the country and claimed at least 547 lives so far. As per the MEA, at least 320 Indians remain untraced, while roughly 400 others are stuck on the Chinese side in the aftermath of the flooding. (with inputs from PTI)
