A Winnipeg man on a pilgrimage in Nepal is among nearly 2,000 people missing after a deadly flash flood devastated a popular tourist region along the Himalayan border earlier this week.
Mohit Kaushik, 49, was travelling with a tour group taking part in the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, a sacred, days-long pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in neighbouring Tibet, according to social media posts.
“Our friend and neighbour, Mohit Kaushik, a resident of Winnipeg, Canada, has been out of contact since yesterday while travelling from Timure during his pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar,” Swikriti Pokhrel wrote in a social media post. “If you have seen him or find his name on any hospital list, please let us know. Thank you.”
Winnipegger Mohit Kaushik, 49, has not been heard from since Wednesday.
Kaushik has not been heard from since Wednesday, when a glacier collapse in the nearby Himalayas triggered catastrophic flooding and landslides, sending a torrent of ice, rock and debris roughly 100 kilometres downstream.
Early reports suggested an earthquake had caused the glacier to break free. The U.S. Geological Survey later said seismic activity detected in the area — equivalent to a magnitude-5.2 earthquake — was instead caused by the impact of the collapsing glacier striking the valley below.
The federal government said Friday that 32 Canadian citizens and permanent residents were among those missing. At the time, none of the 579 people confirmed dead were Canadian.
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By Saturday morning, the overall death toll had climbed to 669.
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