Families of 33 missing Britons rush to Nepal as fears grow of more floods

Second-Wave Flood Threat Forces Evacuations as Families of 33 Missing Britons Race to Nepal

Wanderstayfinder.com – With communication lines severed and power grids dark across the Rasuwa district, relatives of 33 British nationals still unaccounted for are scrambling to book flights into Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, hoping to reach loved ones before conditions deteriorate further. The urgency is compounded by fresh warnings issued on Friday by both Nepalese and Chinese authorities: a second wave of flooding looms over the same mountain corridors already devastated by Wednesday’s catastrophic flash floods.

The initial deluge, which thundered down high-altitude valleys and obliterated entire settlements across Nepal and Tibet, has claimed at least 538 lives. More than 1,500 people remain missing, a figure that includes hundreds of foreign tourists drawn to the region each year by its dramatic landscapes and deep religious significance. For trekkers, pilgrims, and spiritual seekers, the Himalayan corridor linking Nepal to western Tibet represents one of the world’s most sacred and physically demanding routes — and, as this week’s disaster underscores, one of its most exposed.

A Rising Lake and a Frozen Rescue Effort

Chinese state media reported that a mudslide along the Tibet-Nepal border has dammed a waterway, creating an artificial lake whose growing volume risks “sending flood waters downstream” toward populated valleys. Independently, Nepal’s disaster authority confirmed that debris blocking a river at the primary flood site has formed a second, rapidly rising lake at risk of bursting. Rescuers have been forced to suspend survivor searches, and residents who had begun returning to Rasuwa were ordered to evacuate their homes. Witnesses described families fleeing up steep hillsides to escape a potential surge in the river below.

The dual threat — one lake on the Tibetan side, another on the Nepali side — means that even if the immediate search resumes, conditions could shift within hours. For families already in transit, the window to reach their relatives may be narrowing.

Among the Missing: Pilgrims, Students, and Families

Among the British nationals on the missing list are members of a spiritual group returning from Kailash Mansarovar, the high-altitude site in Tibet revered by both Hindus and Buddhists. Jaggi Vasudev, widely known as Sadhguru and founder of the nonprofit Isha Foundation, addressed followers at the foundation’s camp at Saga in Tibet via a YouTube video, confirming that 80 members of an Isha group were unaccounted for, nine of them British.

Neetu Goyal Tiwari, 51, was travelling with a friend when the floods struck. Her nephew Anmol Goyal said her last confirmed position was at the immigration centre on the Tibet-Nepal border and that she had been entered on the Nepalese government’s official missing-persons register. Because much of the family is based in India, obtaining visas to search for her has proved difficult, and relatives increasingly believe she may still be on the Chinese side of the border. Her husband and daughter remain in the UK for now.

“We’re not sure what the next second holds and what we should do from our end, because we’re trying to reach everyone we can,” her brother Naresh Goyal said. “She was a very fun-loving woman [and] really had a great heart. I really hope she comes back soon.”

Naresh added that completing the pilgrimage had been Neetu’s lifelong dream.

Tour Groups and Individual Travellers

Fishtail Tours and Travels confirmed that Leena Bector, 53, of Slough, was among 27 travellers in its group who have not been accounted for. Her husband, Bhupesh Bector, said he was booking the next available flight to Kathmandu after the Home Office failed to confirm whether Leena appeared on its missing-persons list.

“Even if they find her today or tomorrow, I need to be there,” he said. “She must be in trauma.”

The missing list also includes a Surrey-based A-level student, Spandan Sahu, 18, travelling with his father Santosh Sahu, 46 — chief executive of the UK pharmaceutical-technology firm Charac — his mother Surabhi Manmath Padhy, 44, and his sister Syna Kumari Sahu, 13. Sarada Simkhada, a senior nurse from Dartford, Kent, departed for Nepal last Saturday on a religious journey and has not been heard from since.

Deepesh Patel said his parents, Bipin Patel, 66, and Mala Patel, 60, both from Coventry, flew to Nepal on 22 August for a pilgrimage and have not been located. His brother Anant Patel described feeling “shocked” by the absence of reliable information on their whereabouts.

In London, Vikram Kolagatla said he had received no word from his wife, Geetha Reddy, who was staying at Hotel Kailash in Rasuwagadh when the flooding struck. She has two daughters, aged 12 and 14, whose schools resume next week.

“We’re not sure what to do. I have two little girls, and their schools are starting next week,” Kolagatla said.

Tatjana Phillips, of Folkestone, Kent, told reporters she had been unable to reach her sister Julija Jakovicka, who was attending a yoga and meditation retreat near the Nepal-Tibet border when the waters rose. Separately, the tour operator Alpine Eco Trek said it had lost contact with a party of 12 Britons, aged between 13 and 65, who had booked a guided trek to Mount Kailash in Tibet.

Why the Region Is So Vulnerable

The Rasuwa corridor and the high passes linking it to western Tibet sit in a zone of extreme geological instability. Glacial melt, monsoon-driven rainfall, and centuries of seismic activity combine to make flash flooding a recurring seasonal hazard. Narrow valleys channel water with little warning, and the infrastructure — roads, power lines, mobile networks — that would normally support a coordinated rescue is often the first thing destroyed. For families separated from loved ones by a mountain range and a border, the combination of severed communications, visa bureaucracy, and a second flood threat creates a race against time that no government hotline can fully resolve.