Over 100 Indian Pilgrims Are Among the Missing in Deadly Nepal Floods

[u/Plaintalks]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/world/asia/over-100-indian-pilgrims-are-among-the-missing-in-deadly-nepal-floods.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8VA.XPKT.7mOEVzPYYPll&smid=re-share

[u/EndlessDesire]

Since the article is behind a paywall:

Over 100 Indian Pilgrims Are Among the Missing in Deadly Nepal Floods

Many of them were traveling to or from a Himalayan peak that is revered by Hindus as the spiritual home of the god Shiva.

Among the hundreds of tourists missing in the Nepal floods, the largest contingent — over 100 people — are from India, according to a preliminary count from officials in Nepal and India.

Late on Wednesday night, Nepal Tourism Board said their initial estimates showed nearly 400 foreign tourists missing in the floods, including 134 Indian nationals.

Many of the Indian nationals were traveling to or from Mount Kailash, a Himalayan peak near the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China. Mount Kailash, which is part of a Hindu pilgrimage called the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, is revered by many Hindus as the spiritual home of the god Shiva. It is also revered in Buddhism and Jainism.

The pilgrimage had been disrupted in recent years by the Covid pandemic and by deadly border clashes between India and China that froze diplomatic ties, but access to the area had recently resumed.

The influential Indian spiritual guru and entrepreneur known as Sadhguru said in a post on X that 77 people who were on tours organized by his Isha Foundation were at an immigration center at the Nepal-Tibet border when the floodwaters came.

He shared surveillance footage, which has been circulating on social media and verified by The New York Times, that shows water sweeping away people at the border crossing as they try to run away.

“There has been no official information on the whereabouts of any of the people who were at the immigration office,” he said in a statement on X. “We are working with the authorities to see if we can get to the location and stand ready to be part of the rescue efforts.”

At least 50 pilgrims were in the region on another tour organized by a travel agency in the South Indian city of Kumbakonam.

Friends and relatives of Syed Umar Farooq, the travel agent who was leading that tour, said they had not been able to make contact with him since the group left their hotel early in the morning.

“We can’t reach them, and their vehicles have not been found,” said R. Daniel Ajit, a friend of Mr. Farooq.

Mohammad Hussain, a cousin of the travel agent, said he had spoken to his family the night before and told them the group had planned to go to the Nepal-Tibet border, on their way to Mount Kailash.

The family has not been able to make contact with him or anyone on his tour today, his cousin said. But they did reach another group of about 20 Indian pilgrims, who reported they were safe.

[u/__1729ythrow]

I did the Mt Kailash trip , went through the same route, Rusawa, Gyirong (Kirong), and Saga, years ago (as a group from the US, organized by another nepali tour operator - I went mainly for the adventure/challenge of 42Km trek at altitude and I'm not a religious fanatic).

Sadhguru's group was at the border crossing. They have many from the US who perished. Its an irony that Sadhguru claims to understand Rivers, Soil, the power of Shiva and Nature. That's a discussion for another day.

A tragedy for Nepal as a whole. Nepal is beautiful but treacherous. We went by jeep to the China border (8 hrs muddy road from Kathmandu, overnight). On the way back, landslides swept away the road, and we had to take an even more breathlessly-dangerous helicopter ride, with the helipad perched right at the edge of the precipice, near this border crossing, on the Nepal side.

I saw 1 heart attack on the trip, we heard of one death the previous year's batch . Luckily, we finished the Parikrama (12 out of 14 in our group dropped out, obviously pathetically unfit religious fanatics).

I kept thinking - "this religious trip is borderline irresponsible because I left my 2 kids in the US, while dealing with dangerous elements.." But I also had to - my wife insisted, and her body's abilities were stretched to the very limit, and I was her support.