53 from Kerala stuck in Nepal safe: Official

A total of 53 people from Kerala, stranded in the flash flood-hit region in Nepal, are reported to be safe, a top official of NoRKA-Roots, a nodal agency for the welfare of expatriate Keralites, said on Thursday.

Rajesh Madhavan, the chief executive officer of NoRKA-Roots, said that even though the agency has not been able to directly establish contact with the group of 53 Malayali travellers, it has received credible information through people at the Indian Embassy that the group is safe.

However, the ministry of external affairs said that 33 people from Kerala are untraceable. Madhavan said they have not received any report so far of any person from the state missing or in an unsafe location. He said more clarity will emerge by tomorrow.

“The group includes adults and children. Due to mobility and network issues, we have not been able to directly speak to them. But we are given to understand that they are safe. There are some limitations on the ground, we believe. The state’s chief secretary and the resident commissioner are coordinating with the Indian embassy,” Madhavan told reporters.

Family members of some of the group members were able to speak to them over the phone till a while ago, he said. Due to network issues, contact could not be made.

While Madhavan declined to offer details about the group’s present location, he said the situation is under control and that there’s no cause for panic or alarm.

Apart from the 53 travellers, there are separate tourist groups who have travelled from places like Kanhangad and Kottayam in Kerala to Nepal. They are in other parts of the hilly country and safe. “We have been able to speak to them,” the NoRKA-Roots CEO said.

The number of stranded Keralites in the flood-hit parts of Nepal is unlikely to go up, said Madhavan, as the number of calls to the helpline centre have stopped since Wednesday night.

At least 162 people have been killed and over 400 are missing, including 142 Indians, following a massive flash flood through the Bhote Koshi river in a region in Nepal bordering Tibet since Wednesday. The flash floods have swallowed roads, bridges, houses and power projects, causing massive destruction in at least six districts of the Himalayalan country.