"Not a Single Name on the List": Families Desperately Search for Missing Persons in Nepal Floods

"My nephew was in contact with my younger sibling until 8:00 a.m. yesterday (August 26). We haven't heard anything since the flood hit," she said.

According to AFP, on the 27th local time, crowds of people searching for family members missing after the massive flood gathered simultaneously in the hallway of a public hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

Subash Katuwal also searched the lists posted at the hospital to see if the name of his brother, with whom he lost contact, was there.

He said, "I came here to look for my brother, who went missing in the Rasuwa district (yesterday)."

The Rasuwa district in Nepal's northern Bagmati Province is one of the areas hardest hit by the floods.

The Bhotekoshi River there overflowed due to the floods, submerging several nearby villages and destroying roads and hydroelectric facilities.

Chitra Bahadur Nepali, 52, was also at the same hospital looking for his nephew, who lost contact while heading to the Rasuwa district.

Showing a photo of his nephew stored on his mobile phone to an AFP reporter, he said, "I haven't heard from my nephew since the flood (yesterday)," adding, "His name is not on any of the lists we checked."

While rescue workers searched for missing persons across the Bagmati Province, families anxiously waited for rescue news while moving between hospitals and police stations.

The public hospital in Kathmandu stated that it plans to provide free treatment to all patients affected by this massive flood and is prepared for the rapid surge in patients.

Nepali authorities are mobilizing helicopters and other resources to search for missing persons and recover the bodies of the dead, but they are facing difficulties due to the devastated field conditions, with roads and bridges collapsed and electricity and communication cut off.

Videos of multiple residents pulling bodies out of the mud have also been circulated on social media.

Nepali police stated that as of the afternoon of this day, 177 people have died, and 826 people, including about 640 foreigners, are missing.

In Gyirong County, Xigaze, in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China near the Nepal border, a landslide believed to be related to the cause of this flood also occurred, resulting in 3 deaths and 558 missing persons.

Among the missing persons, 260 are foreigners.

Abi Narayan Kafle, a spokesperson for the Nepal Police, said, "Search operations have resumed, and more bodies are expected to be recovered," adding, "The death toll will likely rise."

It has been suggested that this flood may have occurred as massive glaciers and rocks collapsed due to climate change in the Himalayas caused by global warming.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initially stated that a magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred in the Tibet region, but later released a new report explaining that no earthquake had occurred.

It is analyzed that tremors similar to an earthquake were observed during the process of massive glaciers and rocks collapsing, followed by ice, rocks, sediment, and water rapidly pouring downstream, leading to a major flood.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.