Odisha: Australia-based couple, 20-year-old woman missing in Nepal floods

Three Odias, including an Australia-based couple and a 20-year-old woman from Mayurbhanj, are missing after devastating floods in Nepal, officials said.

An Australia-based couple from Odisha and a 20-year-old woman were among three Odias reported missing after devastating floods in Nepal, as officials stepped up efforts to trace hundreds of people missing across Nepal and Tibet following a deadly Himalayan flood disaster.

A wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river on Wednesday triggering floods and leaving over 330 dead and hundreds missing on both sides of the Nepal-China border.

Pritish Panda, the nodal officer from Odisha who is coordinating with external affairs ministry said the government is in touch with Mohapatra’s family. “Sandeep last spoke to his younger brother, Saurabh Mahapatra over the phone on August 25. “We are in touch with their family and are trying to collect information and forward it to the Indian Embassy in Nepal,” Panda said.

Kulsum Nigar, 20, from Baripada town of Mayurbhanj district, is the third Odia reported missing. Her last known location was Pokhara, where she had gone for trekking. She was last contacted at about 11 a.m. on Aug. 25 and remained active online until around 8:30 am on Wednesday, said Panda.

Sahu and Mohapatra, from Odisha’s Khordha district and living in Australia since 2018, travelled to Nepal on August 22 for sightseeing. Their mobile phones have been switched off since Wednesday.

Their last known location was near an immigration office. The couple’s relatives have been unable to contact them since the disaster struck.

Pritish Panda, an Odisha government officer on special duty with the department coordinating with the external affairs minister, said they were informed about the couple going missing after a helpline number was issued. “We are in touch with their family and are trying to collect information and forward it to the Indian Embassy [in Nepal].”

The state government has set up a round-the-clock control room (7428135044, 8527580245, 011-23012807) at its guest house in Delhi to assist people from the state stranded or in distress in Nepal.

A group of students from Bhubaneswar in Nepal’s Pokhara was stranded after a football match.

Rakesh Ranjan Panda, a resident of Puri who was in Nepal with two friends for sightseeing and returned to India through Bihar’s Raxaul border, said the tragedy occurred around 100 km from where they were. “The roads were cut off as bridges were washed away. We faced a lot of difficulties in returning,” Panda said.

He said they met seven women from Odisha’s Jajpur district at Pashupatinath temple in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, who planned to travel to the mountains. “We have no idea about their whereabouts,” he said.

The floods cut off a rugged ‌mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims linking Lhasa in Tibet with Kathmandu. The death toll was feared to rise beyond 165.

Nepalese officials said almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing, including 177 from India. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said 260 foreign nationals were among 558 missing in Tibet’s Gyirong.

Videos showed floodwaters and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong. Homes, roads, and power projects were washed away downstream in Nepal, prompting authorities in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to sound a high alert.

Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More