“We are all okay.” That was the last message received by the families of five people with roots in Nagpur who remain missing following the ‘Flash Flood tragedy’ of August 26, near the Nepal-Tibet border. The WhatsApp message was sent on August 25 from the Gyirong Immigration Facility, the last known location of the group. There has been no confirmed contact with them since then. As the search continues, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India has asked the family members to provide DNA samples in worst-case scenario. Among those missing are Satish Vinayak Patankar (68) and his wife Rekha Patankar (64).

 

Originally from Nagpur, the couple had been living in Thane. Patankar and wife are both alumni of 1979 batch of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur. Also missing are Dr Anand Shankar Deshpande, MD, and his wife Dr Gayatri Deshpande, both originally from Nagpur and alumni of 1979 batch SSC, Hadas High School, Ramdaspeth. They are practising doctors in Andheri, Mumbai. The third family is awaiting information about Sunil Sudarshan Subhedar, originally from Giripeth area in Nagpur, who had been staying with his son in Dombivali. It should be noted that all the five persons were part of a group of 27 Indian nationals, listed in a Tibetan Government Visa issue list for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

 

The Embassy of India is coordinating with the Nepalese Government in the search and identification process amid the large number of bodies recovered following the tragedy. In an important development for families searching for missing relatives, the Nepal Government has decided against immediately cremating unidentified bodies. The bodies will instead be buried until identification can be established through DNA matching. For the families of the missing travellers, the process is now focused on one objective --obtaining confirmed information about their loved ones. The information was shared by Ankush Gawande, District Disaster Management Officer (DDMO), Nagpur, who spoke to the brother of one of the missing travellers, Satish Vinayak Patankar, on Thursday.