Sadhguru Breaks Down As 80 Of Isha Group Missing In Nepal Flood: "Terrible, Extraordinary Event"

Isha Foundation founder and spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev, known as Sadhguru, broke down while telling followers at the foundation's camp at Saga in Tibet, China, that 80 members of an Isha group returning from the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra were missing after a flash flood struck the Nepal-Tibet border region. He said the group was inside the immigration building at Gyirong minutes before it was washed away.

"This is a terrible and an extraordinary event," he said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Sadhguru said his own party had crossed the group on the yatra route. "One of our groups, the S3 group, that we met at Saga and also met them when we were trekking up, they were coming down," he said. The foundation last heard from the group leader nine minutes before the flood hit, he said. "At 9:05 (AM) he sent a message that they have arrived at the immigration. So after that, this happened at 9:14," he said, describing the leader as a full-time volunteer of over two decades. He said the group leader's Nepal phone never activated. "If he had crossed over, his Nepal phone should have come active. It did not come. So literally the entire group was there in the building."

The 80 comprised 34 men and 46 women. They included 22 people from the United States, 12 from Canada, 11 from Australia, nine from the United Kingdom, four from Germany, three each from France and Nepal, and two each from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain, with one each from Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia and South Africa. Three volunteers and a doctor camped in nearby hotels are also unaccounted for.

On the wider toll, Sadhguru cited Indian news reports putting 484 missing on the Nepali side. "On this side there's absolutely no information," he said, adding that the overall numbers "could be anywhere around 1,500 plus".

He said the cause of the flood remained unestablished, citing unconfirmed accounts of a lake burst and an earthquake. "We don't know," he said, tears streaming down his face.

Roads and telecommunications were down when he tried to reach the site. "We are seeking permission through the Indian embassy and the Chinese embassy in India, and American embassy is working on this," he said.