Nepal flash flood: 80 from Maharashtra stranded, state sets up 24-hour helpline

Flood survivors in Nepal recount the anguish of watching their loved ones swept away by the massive flash floods that ravaged entire villages near the border with Tibet. More than 160 people have died, with 800 others still missing after the flood, which struck on Wednesday with such force that seismologists initially mistook it for an earthquake.

Rescuers are working through thick mud and debris in the affected areas as Nepalese authorities scramble to deliver aid and relief supplies. Kalpana Malla, from Nepal's Nuwakot district, said her family was engulfed by the flood: "My father, mother, sister and sister's children were all claimed by the disaster. They could not escape the flood; there was no chance at all."

Sugam Malla recounted how he saved his mother by pulling her hand onto a rooftop, but their phone contact with her sister has been lost. Goma Pandit lost her cattle and farmland, with nothing left. In Kathmandu, families of the missing anxiously await updates at TU Teaching Hospital. Ram Khumari Shrestha told the BBC that her husband was off to work when he last contacted her at 8 pm on Tuesday, but the phone was switched off by morning.

Mani Shrestha waited by the hospital, hoping to hear from relatives, including his brother, cousin, uncle, and friend. Trekking guide Sonam Dorjee missed the flood in his village by an hour but described the sudden and devastating event: "It sounded like an earthquake. My house has collapsed... I have seen a photo. My sister, Dechen Tamang, and her husband are missing, along with several other family members. He is praying for her survival, hoping there is a 10% chance she is found alive.