Nepal floods: 3 days go on without a trace of 77 missing Isha Foundation pilgrims | “Rescue teams are on the ground, but….” | Today’s news
Pilgrims of Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation remain untraceable even after three days of flash floods hit the Nepal-Tibet border region. A total of 77 pilgrims associated with the organization are reported missing, the group’s coordinator told PTI on Friday. The group known as S3 was returning from the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage when the flood struck on Wednesday, August 26.
The group, which had participants of 19 nationalities in Gyirong on the Tibet-Nepal border, has been missing ever since. The group’s coordinator Maa Gambhiri said, “For the last two days, there has been no information about the 77 missing Isha Foundation pilgrims. Rescue teams are on the ground but there is still no information,” PTI reported.
Founded by Indian spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev Sadhguru, the organization tried to contact every embassy in India, China and Nepal to know the whereabouts of the missing pilgrims. The foundation also approached various authorities and ministries in India and Nepal for support, but their attempts yielded no results.
Maa Gambhiri noted the anxiety and fear of loss that surrounded the families of the pilgrims, adding: “There are 77 families desperately waiting for answers. It is an emotional turmoil for them.”
Everything about the last traceable location of the 77 missing pilgrims
The Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimages, organized annually by the Isha Foundation, involve pilgrims walking from Kathmandu through Nepal to Tibet. On the day the area was hit by devastating flash floods, Sadhguru said in a post on X that one of his Kailash pilgrimage groups was caught up in the tragedy at the immigration office in Gyirongo. Apart from the 77-member group, there were 3 volunteers in Timure Nepal, Sadhguru said. “Of the 21 groups that are part of our Stay, 495 people have already returned safely. 743 people are currently in Tibet, 148 people in Nepal,” the post said.
The next day, he shared another post in which he appealed to the authorities and administration and asked for permission for himself and a few volunteers to help in the search and rescue operation. He said in a video message that members of the organization tried to reach the area but failed as the roads leading to the site were cut off.
Among the missing pilgrims are 22 US citizens, 12 Canadians, 11 Australians and nine from Great Britain. Among the other missing were four pilgrims from Germany, three each from France and Nepal, two each from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain, and one each from Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia and South Africa.
According to Nepalese police, nearly two thousand people remain missing, while 616 people have been confirmed killed in the destruction, AFP reported.
