Guwahati, Aug 30: At least eight people from Assam have been rescued in Nepal, which was struck by a devastating flash flood on August 26, and are being brought back to the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said nine more people from Assam are still missing in the Himalayan country.
The state government is coordinating with the authorities concerned to trace missing people and bring them back safely to Assam, Sarma said in a social media post on Saturday.
“I just spoke to eight people from Assam, who have been safely rescued in Nepal,” Sarma said.
The rescued persons — Pankaj Verma, Samar Bezbaruah, Gautam Das, Gopal Debnath, Soneswar Narzary, Sarbison Marak, Silva Marak and Elphison Sangma — are safe and will return home on Sunday, he added.
“Efforts are continuing to trace the others and ensure their safe return at the earliest,” the CM said.
Addressing a press conference later in the day, he said that search and rescue operations are going on in Nepal.
“The number of missing persons will be more than whatever list we have. It is because many Assamese people are working in Nepal without providing any information to the state government,” Sarma said.
The Assam government, in association with the authorities concerned in Nepal and the Ministry of External Affairs, is expediting the process of identifying the missing people, he said.
Meanwhile, the ASDMA said that nine people from Assam are still missing in Nepal since devastating flash floods struck the Himalayan country.
The names Sarma had mentioned as safely rescued in his social media post were not on the list of missing people shared by the state disaster management authority.
As per the ASDMA list, the missing persons are Rhituporno Brahma, Montri Basumatary, Rahul Daimary, Shatadal Nath, Pankaj Naug, Arun Mahanta, Dr Dipali Sarkar, Manash Kumar Ghosh and Birson Sangma.
The ASDMA had earlier reported that 18 people from the state were missing in the Nepal floods.
Later, the authority said that nine people were found to be safe and contact with them was established.
The death toll from flash floods in central Nepal rose to 788 on Sunday, with more bodies being recovered even as nearly 2,500 people are still missing, including 85 security personnel and 320 foreigners, following the disaster.
The flash floods on Wednesday began after an ice-rock avalanche following a glacial collapse blocked the flow of the Lhende tributary of the Bhotekoshi River, with the resulting surge hitting Timure near Nepal’s border with Tibet and causing widespread destruction downstream.
The torrent of water, mud and debris wiped out towns and villages, damaged crucial infrastructure and washed away hydropower stations throughout central Nepal.
