KOLKATA: On a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a British couple with Kolkata roots have been missing for the past four days following the devastating flash floods in Nepal, leaving their family here anxiously awaiting news of their whereabouts.
Anal Kar (56) and his wife Sanjukta Kar (50) reached Kathmandu from New Delhi on August 18 and were last traced to Timure, near the Nepal-Tibet border.
Left desperate for any word about them, the couple's children -- Aratrika Kar and her brother Sankhadeep -- have set off for Kolkata to be with their maternal grandfather in Garia, the eastern fringes of Kolkata.
"We will stay at my dadu's in Garia and plan accordingly. We may travel to Nepal," she said.
The 24-year-old doctor working at a hospital in Wales told PTI over the phone that she had spoken to her parents last Tuesday, a day before an ice-rock landslide blocked a river in the Himalayan nation and triggered the flash flood. But that mother-daughter conversation was cut short.
"I have been trying to get in touch with them, but could not get through to them. I spoke to her (mother) on Tuesday, but the call got disconnected, after which she texted me," Aratrika said.
She said that her parents were part of an eight-day trek to Kailash Manasarovar, arranged by a tour agency. The group comprised 31 people, including five staffers of the agency and tourists from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia.
Aratrika said, "They called us over video and Messenger (an online communication platform) after reaching there. But due to connectivity issues, the calls were getting dropped. My mother sent a text to my grandfather on Tuesday that they were 15 kilometres from the checkpoint (on the Nepal-Tibet border)."
The tour agency later informed the family that the couple had been waiting at the checkpoint.
The missing couple's daughter said they had contacted the British authorities to trace their parents and were directed to their embassy in Kathmandu.
"The embassy could not provide us with any information, only that teams were monitoring the situation and would get back to us if there was anything to report," she said.
Desperate for news, Aratrika even contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) but received no information.
Back in Kolkata, each passing day has deepened the family's worry. Anal Kar's sister Jhuma Majumdar, who lives in Behala, said the family was struggling to cope with the uncertainty.
"It's been four days, and we are yet to get any information about the couple. I am perplexed. I did not inform our ailing father, but he got to know about it through TV news. Since then, he is very upset and unwell," she said.
The brother-in-law, Saikat Sen, said the family got to know the couple's last known location through their social media accounts.
"They had uploaded photos around 8.10 am on August 26. Their location was at Timure. We have been dialling both of their numbers, but there has been no response. We tried to contact the Nepal Consulate here, but they also could not help us," Sen said.
Sujay Wasti, the manager of Kathmandu-based 'Kailash Journeys' that had arranged the tour, said they had not been able to reach the affected area because access was restricted and rescue operations were being handled by defence personnel.
"We have no clue. But going by the situation, it seems that survival chances are minimal. It's four days now, and I think the bodies have already floated downstream and entered India. We are in touch with the defence and rescue," he said.
Joint Secretary and Chief District Officer of the Kathmandu District Administration Office Eshor Raj Poudel said, "The situation here is very, very bad. The amount of debris that the flood brought is huge. It's everywhere. We have collected over 450 bodies.
About the survival chances of the couple, Poudel said, "It's remote. Even spotting the couple is next to impossible. They must have been swept away.
For the Kar siblings, however, the search remains a race against time as they cling to hope of hearing from their parents.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, at least 320 Indians remain missing and around 400 others are stranded on the Chinese side following the devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border.
