'Our parents were crossing the border an hour before the flood hit'
'Our parents were crossing the border an hour before the flood hit'
Nardine Saad; Rebecka Pieder Fri, August 28, 2026 at 12:22 AM UTC
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Deepak and Madhu Ahuja
Hundreds of foreign nationals are desperately waiting to hear from loved ones thought to be caught in the deadly flash flood and mudslide along the Nepal-Tibet border.
Sisters Shreya and Ashna Ahuja are among those anxiously waiting for some news of their parents, Deepak and Madhu Ahuja, who had travelled from Texas to Mount Kailash on a group pilgrimage.
"It's only been one day, but it has felt like much longer," the sisters tell the BBC. "We just love them a lot and want them to come home." One of the siblings spoke to their parents just before the floods struck.
More than 1,300 people are missing, including tourists from the US, Australia, Canada, India, and the UK. Nepali authorities say more than 380 people have died.
Follow live updates: Fears of second flood as search for survivors continues
About 90 US citizens may have been impacted by the floods, the State Department said on Thursday, confirming that three Americans had been rescued.
The Ahuja sisters have contacted the State Department and US embassies in Delhi, Nepal and China, but they say they have no concrete information on the whereabouts of their parents.
The region is a pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhists, and visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.
Radhika Sharma's parents, Ramesh Sharma, 65 and Neelam Sharma, 64, two US citizens who live in New York City, were also travelling to Mount Kailash in the Kathmandu region when the disaster struck.
The pilgrimage was their first trip on their own since retiring last year.
"I am just trying to find them, I don't have any answers," Radhika Sharma told the BBC. Sharma is typically in frequent contact with her parents, often texting multiple times during the day.
"The last we know is they were at the border at 8am, so about an hour before the floods," she said. "And we are hoping that they made it to the Tibet side."
Sharma, who has been in contact with the US embassies in Beijing and Kathmandu, said: "No one has any answers."
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She has also connected with other Americans who are in a similar situation, to support one another and consolidate information.
At least 77 people caught in the disaster are part of a pilgrimage organised by the Isha Foundation, a non-profit group headquartered in India that also has a base in McMinnville, Tennessee.
Leslie Crespi, a community liaison for the Foundation, told the BBC that the group had been working on immigration paperwork in what was meant to be an earthquake-resistant building near the border when the water came through.
"They were like family," she said, her voice breaking.
Ramesh Sharma, 65, and Neelam Sharma, 64, two US citizens from New York have been missing since the flood hit
Prabhath Sajeepa, another US citizen who went missing after the flood hit, was one of the 77 people travelling with the Isha Foundation.
Sajeepa works for a software company in California, and has been involved with the Isha Foundation for a few years, according to his niece, who lives in Germany.
"It has been terrible. I hope he is somewhere safe," his niece, Kavya Koulagi Jayatheertha, told the BBC. "We are hoping for good news."
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The State Department said that the US embassy in Nepal was working closely with local tour agencies and authorities to assist affected Americans.
Officials did not provide figures or additional details regarding the Americans affected for privacy reasons.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that his administration had offered to help the Nepalese government.
"We are sending aid and we've spoken to the leadership," Trump said. "And we let them know anything they want, we'll have."
Canada's foreign office said it was aware 30 Canadians and permanent residents in Nepal and the Tibet region whose whereabouts and well-being had not yet been confirmed.
"Given the extremely difficult circumstances on the ground, this number may fluctuate as new information comes in," Global Affairs Canada said in a statement on Thursday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has urged all Canadians in the region to sign up for Registration of Canadians Abroad, a free service that lets the federal government contact and assist citizens during an emergency in other countries.
The foreign office said 820 Canadians are registered as being in Nepal and five are registered as being in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, citing the Registration of Canadians Abroad system.
According to Nepal police, more than 500 tourists are missing from 28 different countries - most of whom are foreign nationals.
The Nepal Tourism Board has broken down the missing by nationality.
State media in China, which controls Tibet, reported three dead and at least 558 missing there. Among these are 260 foreign nationals, CCTV said. It is not clear if these figures overlap with the numbers provided by Nepal.
Initial reports from Nepal had suggested that an earthquake may have triggered the ice avalanche and landslide.
But the US Geological Survey, which studies earthquakes, has now said that further analysis indicates "that the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide" by itself.
Landslides or avalanches can have various triggers. One possibility is that water - either from rainfall or melting ice - may have destabilised the ground or ice.
Climate change is known to be driving faster glacier melt in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, but scientists say it is too soon to pinpoint its role in this specific event.
The flash flooding swept away entire communities. Roads and bridges worth more than 15bn Nepalese rupees (£72.18m, $98.33m) were damaged by the floods, a government official told BBC Nepali, citing initial estimates.
Nepal's President Ram Chandra Paudel has called upon the government, political parties, social organisations, all agencies including security forces, and the general public to intensify rescue and relief efforts.
"I urge everyone to remain vigilant and actively engage in necessary coordination and cooperation in the lower coastal areas," he said.
With additional reporting by Anahita Sachdev, Gabriela Pomeroy, Helena Humphrey and Mark Poynting, climate and science journalist
Flash flood on Nepal-Tibet border kills more than 150, with hundreds of tourists missing
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
