Daughter traces missing family members through TikTok

A woman whose mother and aunt are missing after devastating flash floods in Nepal has told how she traced their last known location through a TikTok video posted hours before the disaster.

Tulshi Patel, a pharmacist from Milton Keynes, said her mother, Hemangini Jitendra Patel, and her aunt, Hema Sunil Amin, were on a pilgrimage and had planned to travel into Tibet. They are among thousands of people unaccounted for after the catastrophic floods that struck Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages.

Patel told radio station LBC that the two women had been talking about the trip since the start of the year and the journey had been "on their bucket list". She said she last spoke to them on Monday and received a photograph of them the following day. Their last known location came from a GPS signal from the tour group at a place called Friendship Bridge on the Nepal-China border.

The family then conducted its own search online.

"We did our own deep-dive research and we found a TikTok video that verified and showed my mum and auntie and three other people from the tour at the border waiting to cross, I guess, that the local Nepali tour guide had made," Patel said.

Of the video, she said: "It was Wednesday morning, just before 6am, Nepal time."

"They were supposed to have crossed the border on Tuesday, but I guess due to weather conditions, or whichever it was, they got delayed and unfortunately crossed over on Wednesday."

The green Friendship Bridge, which crosses the river between Tibet and Nepal, was swept away in the floods.

Death toll and missing

The floods have killed at least 675 people, while more than 3,000 remain missing, according to reports. Among the missing are 33 British nationals, including a 13-year-old, NHS workers and a priest. A UK team is due to arrive in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, on Saturday to assist with efforts.

Nepali authorities have reported at least 633 dead and nearly 3,000 missing, while Chinese authorities have reported seven deaths and more than 550 missing, according to figures cited in some reports.

Families of other missing pilgrims

Other families of those missing have also spoken of their anguish. A Brisbane mother, Aarti Raval, has been unable to contact her husband Bhavinkumar Raval, who flew to Nepal to celebrate his 41st birthday with two close friends. He was preparing to embark on a spiritual pilgrimage with the Kailash Journeys tour group.

"The kids are devastated, they are waking up every morning asking me the same question, 'is daddy '," she said.

Raval last heard from her husband on Wednesday morning just three hours before the disaster. All three men had been through border immigration in Nepal and were heading towards the Nepal-China border when the floodwaters hit. The trip was also to celebrate Aarti's cousin Karan's 40th birthday on Sunday. Bhavinkumar is a father, a Royal Australian Airforce member and part of Queensland Police.

Aarti said she is desperately calling hospitals in Kathmandu searching for any sign of her husband and his friends. "I think DFAT (The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) is not providing any information," she said. "The amount of information I'm sharing with them, I'm expecting some sort of action."

Brisbane man Shambu Simkhada has also been unable to contact three of his family members who were travelling to that part of Nepal for religious reasons. He has this message for them: "Come back very quickly with safe way. We like to see you. We are desperately waiting for you."

Some of those missing were visiting Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists. Neetu Goyal Tiwari, 51, was on her "dream" trip to complete a pilgrimage when the flash floods occurred. Her brother, Naresh Goyal, said the family had been desperately phoning contacts in Nepal in an attempt to find her, though they increasingly believe she may still be in China. As many of the family members are based in India, it is difficult for them to obtain visas to search for her.

Leena Bector, 53, from Slough, was among 27 travellers who are unaccounted for. Her husband, Bhupesh Bector, told the Times he was booking the next flight to Kathmandu after the Home Office had failed to confirm whether Leena was on its missing persons list. He said: "Even if they find her today or tomorrow, I need to be there. She must be in trauma."

Search for missing continues

Rescue efforts in communities buried by the catastrophic flash floods in the border region have entered their fourth day. Patel said the family had considered travelling to Nepal to join search efforts but had decided against this as they did not know how close they could get to the region.

She said she had messaged the two women "in the hopes that maybe we'll see a tick to say they've seen it or read it" and had attempted to contact the tour guide. "We've messaged the tour guide in case he has a signal because he'll have a local Sim as well," she said.

"Every day we're calling via WhatsApp … We've not given up, but, from our end, all we can do is research, but we just need kind of eyes and ears there from our side to basically get them out."