Nepalese Tell Yomiuri of Missing Colleagues, Loved Ones with Search Efforts Stymied
KATHMANDU — Hearing screams of “Flood!” Rajendra Dhungana rushed out of the Rasuwa Customs Office, located in Timure in Rasuwa District, Nepal, and ran to higher ground.
KATHMANDU — When Rajendra Dhungana, the chief customs officer in Timure, Nepal, heard the screams of “Flood!”, he left the Rasuwa Customs Office and fled to higher ground. A powerful tremor hit the area near the Chinese border, causing buildings to be engulfed by mud in seconds. Dhungana attempted to reach his superior by phone, but the call was cut off.
Among the 40 staff members and trade representatives present that day, 15 remain missing. The Nepali and Chinese authorities suspended their rescue efforts after the landslide-dammed lake in Tibet began to overflow, surpassing the 72-hour critical window for survival on Saturday. Guras Tamang, a 23-year-old woman in Kathmandu, has been searching hospitals for her fiancé, a 24-year-old driver from Mailung village, who worked at a hydropower plant.
She has been calling him over 100 times but has not been able to reach him since the mudslide. The couple had planned to move to Europe and get married in October. Tamang expressed her hope that her fiancé might still be alive, despite the slim chance.
Written by urgent.news from The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
