Ten Malaysians, including two firemen, uncontactable after Nepal flash floods near Tibet border.
PETALING JAYA: Ten Malaysians who have lost contact following the catastrophic floods in Nepal were said to be just 18km from the Nepal-Tibet border at the moment the flash flood struck.
Malaysian Recreation Council chairman Muhamad Nur Azrul Che Zabani said the group, referred to as “Team Loe,” was travelling in two 4WD vehicles from Kathmandu toward the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung (Gyirong) border crossing when disaster hit.
Speaking to a Malay-language daily, Azrul said the tour operator handling the group’s trip had supplied details of their last known position.
“Based on my risk analysis, the possibility that they were caught in the flash flood is very high because they were travelling along the flood path, which is in a valley area,” he was quoted as saying, noting that their jeeps were roughly 18km from the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung border point when the flood hit.
“When the flash flood occurred, their jeeps were another 18km away from the Nepal-Tibet border at Rasuwagadhi-Kerung. After the incident, the operator did not receive any further news from them,” he said.
Azrul added that the group’s chances of safety would have been considerably better had they already cleared border formalities before the flood hit between roughly 9am and 10am.
He said Nepalese authorities and rescue teams were pressing on with search and rescue efforts, though reaching the disaster zone remained difficult and hazardous. The Malaysian Embassy in Nepal, he added, was working to secure updated information from rescue teams on the ground.
The 10 Malaysians named with the tour operator’s consent are Ganesh Neupane, Shabuddin Mun, Azman Karim, Mohd Fadzil Daros, Muhammad Haziq Ismail, Mohd Nohan Salim, Jason Ngeow, Muhamad Nasir Abdul Talib, Mohd Fakhrul Munir Mohd Isa and Mohd Sani Harul.
Among them are two officers from the Fire and Rescue Department, according to the department’s director-general, Datuk Seri Nor Hisham Mohammad, who identified them as Mohd Sani and Mohd Fakhrul Munir. He said one holds the post of deputy division director at the department’s headquarters, while the other serves at its Central Region academy.
Nor Hisham said the group had departed for Nepal on Monday night, travelling by jeep through Tibet toward the Everest Base Camp area.
The floods struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district near the Nepal-Tibet border, severing communications and cutting off key roads linking the affected area with Kathmandu.
