Qatar-based Telugu pilgrim missing after Nepal flash floods

Several Telugu NRIs have been stranded at the Nepal-Tibet border following flash floods that disrupted the Kailash pilgrimage route. Families of pilgrims, including Qatar-based Ramesh Babu, have lost contact for days, while some Dubai-based NRIs were rerouted to Kathmandu by Chinese authorities.

By Our Gulf Correspondent

Dubai: Some Telugu NRI pilgrims were reportedly stranded in Nepal following catastrophic flash floods that swept through Nepal’s Himalayan border region with Tibet.

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The family of Qatar-based NRI Chopparapu Ramesh Babu has been anxiously waiting for a message or call from him for the last three days. He was last located at the immigration office on the Chinese side on August 26 and since then has lost contact.

“We have been waiting for any news of him”, his daughter Mounica told ‘Telangana Today‘.

The agony of the family of Soujanya Reddy of Dubai ended on Friday as she along with two other Dubai-based Telugu NRIs were rerouted to Kathmandu via the Gyirong border by Chinese authorities. The Dubai NRIs were stranded in Tibet following flash floods during their return journey following Manasa Sarovar Kailasa parikrama.

The faithful pilgrims travel across the globe including significant numbers from the Gulf, defying hardships to climb 5000-meter Mount Kailash.

The poor connectivity and signals of mobile phones is one of the worrying factors as we rely solely upon Whatsapp messages while pilgrims trek the mountain, said Soujanya Reddy family sources.

There are over 23 NRIs, mostly from the USA, hailing from Telangana among those stranded at Nepal-Tibet border while there is no information of 10 NRIs of Andhra Pradesh, according to official sources.