The Isha Foundation reported on Saturday that hopes for finding survivors at the Gyirong Port immigration centre, located on the China-Nepal border, are dwindling. This area was severely affected by flash floods earlier this week, which caught a group of its pilgrims in the disaster. As rescue operations progress, there have been no positive signs indicating the presence of survivors among those affected.
The foundation said Chinese authorities have resumed search and rescue operations at the site after temporarily suspending them on August 28 over the risk of a second flood. Its team on the Chinese side is around 25 km from Gyirong and is in direct contact with frontline rescue teams and officials. The foundation said the valley at Gyirong Port is covered with an estimated 45–50 feet of silt and debris. The foundation said the mixture of debris and water may have risen as high as 150 feet, completely wiping out the building complex. The flash floods struck the Nepal-Tibet border region on August 26, sweeping away homes, roads and other infrastructure. Nearly 3,000 people remain missing and 682 bodies have been recovered, according to figures from Nepal and China.
Because access to the affected area is not permitted, on the Nepal side, its coordination team is in Kathmandu. Lists released by the Nepal government identifying survivors from downstream areas have also not included any members of the group, according to the foundation.
“Search and rescue operation is being conducted by the Chinese authorities,” the foundation said in an update, adding that operations resumed by noon local time after the temporary pause. The immigration office complex at Gyirong Port has been completely washed away, the foundation said, adding that it had corroborated the extent of the destruction through publicly available sources and information from people on the ground. The foundation said its teams are stationed on both sides of the border at the closest locations permitted by authorities. The organisation said it has been providing information to frontline rescue teams and sharing additional phone-signal information to assist with the search. “So far, there has been no released list of rescued individuals from the Chinese port that includes members of our group,” it said. Local experts familiar with the terrain told the organisation’s team that it was “very unlikely” anyone could have survived the force of the flood. The foundation said it had hoped to find positive indications from the site but that the findings it had been able to verify so far were not encouraging. The update was based on information from authorities, published reports and people on the ground, it said.
It is also monitoring lists of rescued people and cross-checking them against the names of members of its group. It also cautioned that access to the area remains restricted and that it cannot independently verify every detail. Some bodies are also believed to have been swept downstream into India. The disaster has left hundreds of foreign tourists and pilgrims unaccounted for, while rescue teams continue searching affected areas in Nepal and China.
