Bhotekoshi flash flood: Families of missing ones run from hospitals to riverbanks

Kathmandu: Relatives of those who are unaccounted for following the devastating floods in the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems continue their desperate search for the loved ones.

Carrying photographs of their missing family members, they visit hospitals and police offices, with little hope of finding them safe.

Uma Gole of Betrawati and her children have remained missing since the floods on August 26.

Her younger sister Bima Gole continues to visit various bodies and areas in search of information about their whereabouts. Betrawati lies along the border of Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts. While talking about her elder sister, Bima’s eyes welled up with tear.

“I am running from one place to another in the hope of finding my missing sister and her children,” She recalled that she last spoke to her sister on phone at 9:14 am on August 26.

During the call, she heard someone in the background shouting “Run’, run, we have to run.” The call was disconnected all of a sudden.

“Though there is little hope of finding them alive, I have not yet given up the bid,” Bima said.

Similarly, Dhansari Nepali from Dang is approaching here and there in search of her 26-year-old son Niraj Nepali who was a JCB operator in Rasuwagadhi. He has remained unaccounted for since the disaster. She continues visiting various government agencies, desperately seeking information about the whereabouts of her son.

Shiba Bahadur Tharu of Bardiya went missing from Mailung of Rasuwa. His younger brother Sumabir has been searching for him since the disaster ravaged the area. Security personnel have also gone out of contact in the floods.

Policeman Samrat Sherpa was posted at the Timure Police Office and is out of contact along with a police van in the flood. Since then, his uncle Ganesh Sherpa has been desperately waiting to know about his condition. He has visited the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital of Kathmandu, Dhunche, Rasuwa and the Narayani River banks, hoping to glean some information about his nephew’s whereabouts.

Another in the list to continue desperate search is Dhanlal Tamang of Ramechhap, as his relative Dal Bahadur Tamang went out of contact since the disaster. He was working at the Rasuwagadhi customs.

The Bhotekoshi flood has left numerous families in grief, pain and uncertainty. Relatives move one hospital to another and even to the riverbanks, sporting photographs of the missing and clinging to the hope of finding the loved ones.

RSS