BHUBANESWAR: As the government stepped up efforts to locate people from Odisha in disaster-hit Nepal, 10 from the state have been traced, while an Odia NRI couple is still missing.
Kulsum Nigar of Baripada in Mayurbhanj district, who had been to Nepal with a trekking team and gone missing since Tuesday, has contacted her family and informed them about being safe. However, Sandeep Mohapatra and Sidharthi Kumari, the couple from Khurda who have settled in Melbourne in Australia, continue to be untraceable.
Pritish Panda, the nodal officer appointed by the state government to assist people from Odisha stranded in Nepal, said the couple’s last GPS location was traced near the immigration counter at Timure, in the Nepal-Tibet border which suffered the worst devastation. The tour guide accompanying the couple is also untraceable.
The location is also where 77 members of the Isha Foundation, who were on Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, have been reported missing.
Panda said their family in Odisha informed the state authorities about their disappearance, following which the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was alerted for swift follow-up. “There is no news so far. We are trying to establish contact with them but have failed,” he said.
The couple had travelled to Nepal on August 22 and was reportedly scheduled to proceed to Kailash Mansarovar. Their family last spoke to them around 8 pm on August 25.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Kulsum has informed her family that she is safe along with members of her trekking team. Her father Sheikh Salamat Ullah said she had left Baripada for Kolkata by bus on August 21. From Kolkata, she travelled to Raxaul in Bihar by the Mithila Express with her friend Deepika Ekka from Bhubaneswar. The duo then joined a 12-member group travelling to Pokhara in Nepal.
Kulsum had set out for trekking around 11 am on Tuesday and had since gone incommunicado. Her elder sister, Tarannum Nigar, told TNIE that the trekking group is currently safe at Dorpathan. Due to poor telephone connectivity, Kulsum managed to contact her family briefly and inform them about her safety. The group is expected to move to a location with better network connectivity on Friday, she said.
Panda said Deepika had accompanied Kulsum from Bhubaneswar but officials were yet to ascertain whether she is also from Odisha.
He also said that six students from Bhubaneswar who travelled to Nepal to participate in a football match are in Pokhara along with their coach. Efforts are being made to facilitate their return, he added.
A three-member group from Puri that was in Nepal has also been accounted for. “We also received a call from Rakesh Kumar Panda of Puri district. The MEA informed us that they have safely crossed into India through the Raxaul check post,” Panda said.