Sunanda, daughter of Ranajit Howladar, at her residence in Behala
Families willing to travel have instead been advised to first reach Kathmandu with their complete dossiers and coordinate with the Indian Embassy, Nepal’s ministry of foreign affairs emergency control room, police and disaster management authorities,” a Kolkata Police officer said. Kolkata: Five days after flash floods ravaged parts of Nepal, families of missing Bengal tourists are clutching at every possible lead — a last phone ping, an immigration record, a survivor list, emailing the Chinese govt, or even checking the possibility of travelling to the disaster zone themselves. For many, waiting for general rescue updates is no longer enough. “The border region remains an active disaster zone, with damaged roads and bridges, continuing flood risks and restricted access.
A relative of a missing couple from Kolkata said the family contacted a senior official of a telecom service provider and managed to retrieve the last location at which their phones had connected to a network. I don’t know what to do,” said Sunanda Howladar from Parnasree, daughter of one of the missing tourists, Ranjit Howladar. Rajarshi Roy Chowdhury, son of New Town couple Debabrata and Lekha from New Town who are missing, said he has separately registered each of them as “missing” with the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and has contacted Nepal govt’s emergency mechanism set up for search, rescue, information verification and consular assistance involving missing foreign nationals. The key question, officials and relatives said, is whether the tourists were formally recorded as having exited Nepal at Rasuwagadhi immigration and whether there is any corresponding record of their arrival at the Chinese immigration point.
The location was near the Rasuwagadhi immigration centre. There was no further network interception after that. Another family in Kolkata isseeking verification of whether the missing travellers reached the Chinese side of the border. “Every day, the news about the missing tourists is slowly fading from national media and social media. “I don’t know if my father is dead or alive. The uncertainty has pushed relatives to seek increasingly specific, documented answers. The distinction has become crucial amid the uncertainty surrounding several missing Bengal travellers whose available documentary trail appears to end with their departure from Nepal. Families are also seeking verification of four separate possibilities: Nepal immigration records, Chinese or Tibetan immigration records, rescue and survivor lists on both sides of the disaster zone, and hospitals, temporary shelters and unidentified-person records.
“A person on the ground can ensure that a missing person’s case does not become just another entry on a spreadsheet,” said Pranab Chakraborty, neighbour of missing tourist Rina Banerjee in Netaji Nagar. Some relatives are even considering travelling to Nepal themselves.