AT LEAST 320 Indians remain missing and around 400 others are stranded on the Chinese side following devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border and India is ready to extend all possible to help to Kathmandu in its rescue efforts, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said 96 Indian nationals who were stranded on the Chinese side have safely crossed over to Nepal by land route. Twenty-one Indians arrived in New Delhi this afternoon, a day after they reached Kathmandu from the flood-affected areas of Nepal, he said. The Indian nationals from Tamil Nadu were received at the airport in the national capital by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “As far as the number of people (Indians) whom we are not able to contact or who are missing, the figure at this point in time is 320,” Jaiswal said.

 

“There are also around 100 persons of Indian origin who remained uncontactable. These are people of Indian origin who may have gone for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, but they hold other nationalities,” he said. Jaiswal said 400 Indians are stranded on the Chinese side but they are safe. “They have been in touch with their family. Our embassy has been in touch with several of them. Many of their family members also contacted us through the helpline numbers that our embassy is running in Beijing.”

 

“Our embassy is in touch with local authorities in China, and they are working out as to how these people who are there can be evacuated,” he noted. In a related development, Jaishankar also held a high-level meeting with senior officials and reviewed the situation in Nepal with a focus on tracking the status of missing Indians. Indian envoys to Kathmandu and Beijing also joined the meeting through virtual mode. “Discussed the relief and rescue efforts underway in Nepal today. Our Embassies in Kathmandu and Beijing provided an updated picture in respect of the status and well-being of Indian nationals,” Jaishankar said on social media. “The concerned MEA Divisions apprised us of the further relief supplies to be sent to Nepal. We give highest priority to this issue,” he said. Jaishankar said New Delhi is making “urgent efforts” to ascertain the status and well-being of Indians stuck in flood-hit areas. Since Wednesday night, India sent a total of 47.5 tonnes of emergency supplies to Nepal in two military transport aircraft and is in the process of sending more relief materials.

 

 

PARTS of Bihar faced the threat of a deluge as water levels in the Ganga, Gandak, Kosi and Burhi Gandak rivers showed a rising trend following the devastating flash floods in neighbouring Nepal. The floods have affected several districts and left at least 826 people missing, according to Nepal’s disaster management authorities. This has led to both Uttar Pradesh and Bihar administrations stepping up monitoring of their river systems downstream of the rivers of the Himalayan nation. “The water levels of several rivers, including the Ganga, Gandak, Kosi and Burhi Gandak, have been rising following continuous rainfall in their catchment areas in Nepal. “The rivers have touched or crossed the danger level at several places in the bordering districts,” a senior official of the Water Resources Department said. According to the department’s bulletin on Friday, the Gandak, Kosi, Ganga, Burhi Gandak and Ghaghra rivers were flowing above the danger mark at many places in the state and have touched warning levels in some places.