Five members of family among 12 from Bihar missing in Nepal floods: Officials

Motihari/Samastipur, Aug 30 (PTI) At least 12 people, including five members of a family, from Bihar’s East Champaran district remain missing following the devastating flash floods in Nepal, officials said on Sunday.

Eight people from the Adapur block of the district have been missing since the flash floods struck the Himalayan country four days ago, Adapur Circle Officer Pragya Nayanam said.

Three persons, identified as Sanjog Mahto of Barwa village, and Umesh Prasad and Brij Kishore Paswan, both from Uchi Dih village, were among the eight, she said.

Five members of a family, originally from Lala Chhapra village in Adapur block, also went missing after the disaster, the circle officer said.

They were living in Bhimphedi in Nepal, where the head

of the family, Budhan Sah, operated a scrap shop. He had gone uphill to procure materials when the disaster occurred, another official said.

“Sah’s wife Manvi Devi, daughters Asha Kumari, Roopa Kumari and Sandhya Kumari, and granddaughter Ayushi Kumari are missing,” he said.

Three people from Jagiraha village under the Bhataha panchayat in the Kesaria-Chakia area of East Champaran have also been missing, another official said.

Chakia Sub-Divisional Officer Shivani Shivam and Kesariya Circle Officer Poonam Mishra identified the missing persons as Rambabu Prasad Sah, Pramod Kumar Sah and Muneel Kumar Sah.

Chauradano Circle Officer Ranjan Kumar Baitha said a resident of Hardiya village has been reported missing since the flash floods hit Nepal on Wednesday.

The missing person has been identified as Arman Miya, who worked as a tailor in Trishuli Bazaar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district. His family has been unable to contact him since Wednesday, Baitha said.

Besides, a native of Samastipur, who has been working as a labourer in Nuwakot, claimed that his eight friends, hailing from several districts of Bihar, went missing after the flash floods.

Ajay Poddar, the labourer from Samastipur, told PTI Video, “We, around 12 friends, used to work here as labourers. Four of us had gone to Kathmandu to buy some hardware items. When we returned, the area was swept away by floods, and we were stopped by security personnel from going closer to the site where we worked.” The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Saturday said that more than 275 Indians and 128 persons of Indian origin remained missing or non-contactable in Nepal. On Sunday, the MEA on its X handle shared a list of 149 people who were rescued.

The death toll from flash floods in Nepal rose to 788 on Saturday, with many bodies being recovered, as authorities warned of increased water levels in the Bhotekoshi river and urged residents and rescue personnel in flood-hit districts to remain alert.

More than 2,500 people still remain missing, while nearly 9,500 people were rescued, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

The disaster, believed to have been triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal on August 26.

The Bhotekoshi river, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects. PTI CORR SUK BDC