Saumya Grover and her sister texted with their parents Wednesday and told them to be careful.
Anil and Samira Grover of Markham had travelled to Nepal on a spiritual pilgrimage. They were gearing up that morning to cross the border into Tibet.
The daughter of Anil and Samira Grover, from Markham, shared this photo of her parents during their pilgrimage in Nepal.
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“My sister and I told them to be safe and keep us posted,” Grover said of their conversation around 7 a.m. local time in Nepal. “They were really excited … That was the last communication we had.”
Grover and her loved ones are among the local families now searching for any word about their missing family members in Nepal, as they cling to hope here at home.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Friday 32 Canadians and permanent residents are now missing.
The families of multiple missing Canadians, meanwhile, spoke to the Star about the nightmare they’re living through.
Grover said her parents were among droves of visitors who were in the region for a spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, which is home to sacred religious sites, such as Lake Mansarovar.
This satellite image provided by Vantor shows destruction at Syapru Besi, Nepal.
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She said her parents were travelling with a larger group of trekkers, including at least a dozen Canadians, who were there with a tour company named The Trekkers’ Society. She said her parents were travelling with other followers of the Isha Foundation, a spiritual organization.
Since then, the Grover family has reached out to government agencies in Canada and Nepal in their hunt for updates.
“We’re all really worried,” she said about the well-being of Anil, a 55-year-old accountant and Samira, a 50-year-old elementary school teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
“We’re kind of stuck in this place where we don’t know what’s going on, or their precise whereabouts at the time of the flood,” Grover said.
The flash flood was caused by a glacial collapse, which triggered an ice and rock avalanche that sent debris into a river and triggered the devastating surge downstream.
No Canadians have been among the 121 foreign nationals rescued so far, the Nepal Tourism Board said Friday.
The situation in the hardest hit areas of Nepal, including the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, is still “very grave,” said Anup Rana, the field operations director for World Vision International Nepal, a Christian humanitarian organization.
“All the houses have been vacated, there is rubble and debris, the mud slides are two to three metres high,” Rana said, describing what his colleagues on the ground are seeing. “People are fearful, devastated. They have lost their loved ones and are broken.”
The biggest challenge is accessibility, Rana said, adding that bridges and roads have been swept away. Important supplies, such as food and hygiene, have to be trekked to local communities or, for those in Rasuwa, helicoptered in.
Rainy weather and foggy conditions during Nepal’s monsoon season have only complicated coordinating the emergency response, Rana added.
“The country is in sorrow,” Rana said. “But we want to be hopeful to overcome this situation.”
Retired teacher trained for trek
Natasha Naresh told the Star that her father-in-law, Mahendra Gupta, 68, was with a group of trekkers attempting to cross the border en route to Mount Kailash when disaster struck. She said Gupta was granted clearance to enter Tibet around 8:30 a.m. local time.
Mahendra Gupta, a retired TDSB high school teacher, is pictured during is trip to Nepal. He was with a group of trekkers attempting to cross the border en route to Mount Kailash when the flash flood hit.
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“We have a photo of him and other members of the group outside of the Nepali immigration office before the crossing,” Naresh said.
“This was something that he’s wanted to do for a while,” Naresh said of his pilgrimage. “He is a very devout Hindu.”
Gupta, a retired TDSB high school teacher, did long walks daily to prepare himself for the physical strain of the trek across the mountainous terrain, she said.
Naresh called for better co-ordination from the Canadian government in how it shares information with families.
The disaster has devastated communities along the Lhende Khola river system, washing away roads
“We’re forced to kind of make our own connections,” Naresh said. “Rescue efforts are taking place, but the information is being trickled out drop-by-drop.”
She said seeing images of the aftermath of the devastation caused by the floods near the border crossing at Gyirong Port, where Gupta was at the time, “rips our hearts in two. Our family is devastated.”
Naresh said while her family, including Gupta’s son, Yogesh Gupta, whom she is set to marry next year, are grappling with the reality that he might have been killed, “hope is sort of the only thing that we have. There is hope but honestly at this point it would be a miracle if he were alive.”
“We just want him home.”
‘Calling and emailing frantically’
Mukti Patel, who lives in Richmond, Va., is now searching for four members of her family, who have been counted among the 32 missing Canadians. Her missing relatives, all of whom are Canadian, include her father, Umesh Patel; her sister, Akanksha Patel; Ishan Patel, her brother-in-law; and Ishan’s mother, Shilpa Patel. Shilpa also brought two family friends along for the trip: Jagdishbhai Patel and Padmaben Patel. She said her family members who lived in Toronto for many years, now live in the United States.
Umesh Patel, pictured in Nepal, is among the 32 Canadians listed as missing.
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“It’s half of my family,” Mukti said of the missing group.
Mukti said she had communicated with members of the family via a chat group the morning of the flood.
“The last contact was about that it was Ishan’s birthday, and he was turning 32 on the 26th (of August),” she said.
Mukti said the trip to Nepal was a special moment for her family because this was the first time that they had the money to fund a major trip together.
“Once my sister and my brother-in-law and everyone started earning their own money, we were able to do something,” she said Friday. “My dad was pumped, because he’s been wanting to do a pilgrimage like that for years.”
Mukti is spending her days contacting government organizations at home and in Nepal to cobble together what little details are available.
“I can’t even tell you all of who I contacted, but I saw these numbers and I just needed to call somebody because I needed to do something,” she said. “I’ve just been calling and emailing frantically.”
“I want my family members to come home one way or another,” Mukti said.
Toronto woman’s first visit
Speaking to the Star from Chicago, Bhumika Sachdev said her sister, Poonam Dilipkumar, from Toronto, was also in the border region for the pilgrimage at the time of the flood.
Poonam Dilipkumar is among the 32 Canadians currently reported missing following the aftermath of mass flooding in the Nepal-Tibet border region.
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“This was her first time being in Nepal, so she was enjoying it,” Sachdev said, adding that her sister shared photos and videos of her trip.
Dilipkumar, 42, a certified financial adviser, was among about 10 Canadian trekkers who were on a guided tour with the Himalayan Glacier Adventure and Travel Company, Sachdev said.
“Around the same time last year, I was there in the border region,” she told the Star of her own pilgrimage to the area.
She said she’s holding on to a glimmer of hope that her sister might be found.
“We are trying to keep positive while trying to do whatever we can to find her.”
‘Catastrophic damage’
The federal government has said that it’s providing $5 million in urgent humanitarian aid to support Nepal.
Canada’s contribution is meant to help organizations such as the Red Cross deliver life-saving assistance to people on the ground.
Global Affairs Canada has deployed five consular officials to Kathmandu to support Canadians and work with local officials.
“Nepal is facing a devastating humanitarian emergency with catastrophic damage,” Anand said during a news conference Friday.
“Families and homes are destroyed. Mudslides have wiped away villages and infrastructure, including bridges. Communities have been cut off from essential services, including telecommunications.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said on social media this week Canadians in the region should sign up for Registration of Canadians Abroad, a free service that lets the federal government contact and assist citizens during an emergency in other countries.
Nepal’s disaster management authority has said 1,924 people are listed as missing.
With files from The Canadian Press and Simon McKeown