290 Indians are still uncontactable after the Nepal floods

The Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that 290 Indian nationals in Nepal remain uncontactable after flash floods tore through Rasuwa and the Tibet border.

Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said 84 Indians have been rescued. That includes 63 workers from the Trishuli-1 hydropower project and 21 people from Tamil Nadu. About 73 Indians from the same project are still unaccounted for. Communications in the affected areas are "totally disrupted," he said.

Uncontactable does not mean dead. It means officials have not been able to reach them. The 290 include hydropower workers, tourist groups, and pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and other states. A large group from Sadhguru's Isha Foundation is also untraceable, Jaiswal said.

About 200 Indians on the Kailash Mansarovar yatra have asked to be evacuated from the Chinese side. The embassy in Beijing is coordinating that. India has sent two aircraft with relief, more than 47 tonnes in all, and is mobilising Bailey bridges. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a review with the Foreign Secretary and the missions in Kathmandu and Beijing.

Nepalese authorities now put the death toll at 392, most of them in Nepal. More than 1,400 people are still missing across both sides of the border. A debris lake on the Bhotekoshi is filling, and Nepal's disaster agency has warned of another surge. The NDRF said there was no adverse impact of the flash floods on the Indian side, Times of India reported.

Yesterday the Indian story was the aid flight. Today it is a missing-persons list that has grown from about 133 to 290.

Families in several states are waiting on names. The hydropower corridor and the pilgrimage route failed at the same time. The MEA's control room and the helplines in Kathmandu and Beijing are the only official map for now.

Rescue continues. Watch the barrier lake, and the embassy updates on who has been reached.