Kolkata: They know when their parents, friends and relatives left Nepal. They do not know if they ever reached China. Families of 32 tourists from Bengal missing after Wednesday’s flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border are searching for one crucial answer: whether or not their relatives crossed into China after leaving Nepal.Five others from Bengal are also reported missing in Nepal.Immigration records released by the Nepal authorities show that all the 32 members of Chalo Jaai Travel Club cleared Nepal immigration at Rasuwagadhi on Wednesday morning. Subhashree Chakraborty was the first to receive an exit stamp at 8.08 am Nepal time. Tour manager Jayanta Sanyal was the last to receive his exit stamp at 8.24 am. But there is no public record yet, confirming the group’s entry into China.The Friendship Bridge over the Bhote Koshi river connects the Nepal immigration point with the Chinese side. The group was expected to cross the bridge, complete Chinese immigration formalities and take a bus to Kerung in Tibet, where they were to spend a day, acclimatising before continuing their journey. It was around 8.45 am Nepal time that a flash flood struck the border area, wiping away the bridge and damaging the Chinese immigration facility.“Some members might have had already boarded the bus into China while others could have been crossing the bridge or waiting. We don’t know what happened in those 20-odd minutes,” said an official of the travel agency.People familiar with the crossing said immigration on the Chinese side could take several hours, making it difficult to determine if the group had completed the formalities and moved away in time, before the flood roared in.Relatives have been calling Indian and Chinese missions, officials in Nepal, police stations and hospitals. Some have contacted people in villages near the affected area. A few are preparing to travel to Nepal to check hospitals, rescue centres and morgues. During an online meeting with chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday night, Ankita, whose parents Mousumi and Arindam Ganguly from Durgapur were in the group, asked the govt to release the names of Indians rescued from the Chinese side.Rajarshi Roy Chowdhury, whose parents Debabrata Roy Chowdhury and Lekha Roy Chowdhury from New Town, were travelling with the group, said the Nepal records had provided only the last confirmed detail. “We know they left the Nepal immigration centre. That is the last confirmed information we have about them,” said Rajarshi, a professor who returned to Kolkata from Delhi after learning about the disaster. “We want the authorities to check the Chinese immigration records and tell us if they reached the other side.”Families had hoped for answers when the MEA released a list of 149 Indian tourists brought back to Nepal from Tibet. None from Kolkata was on the list.Debasis Thakur, six of whose friends are missing, said, “If the Chinese immigration records are released, at least we will know if the group reached the other side. Their last pinged location was near the immigration office. But If they were there at the time of the flash flood, only a miracle can save them.”Until confirmed news arrives, families are holding on to the hope that the tourists may have been somewhere beyond the flood zone — and waiting for someone to confirm it, but the hope is fading fast, they admit.
