Anxious wait for relatives of those missing in Nepal flooding

Richmond, Virginia (AP) Rescue workers continued on Sunday to pull survivors from the mud following the catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-China border on Wednesday that killed hundreds of people.

Amid the massive rescue operations, relatives of the more than 2,000 people authorities say are still missing were still holding out hope — however dim — that their loved ones survived.

Mukti Patel has been huddling with family and friends at her parents’ home in Richmond, Virginia, since her dad, sister and two other relatives went missing.

She knows the hotel they were staying in was swept away in the disaster, but as she shared memories of them on Friday, she caught herself.

“I shouldn’t talk in past tense yet. We don’t know anything,” she said.

Sanket Pandey, managing director of Himalayan Glacier Adventure and Travel Company, said relatives of those missing have been enquiring about whether they could reach the disaster site.

The tour group, which has an office in Baltimore, in the United States, was the organiser of a two-week excursion to the region with 40 guests and seven tour guides.

Pandey said all 47 are among the missing and their families are desperate for any information.

“It’s really difficult to have nothing,” he said.

The US State Department says about 90 Americans are among those missing.

Patel’s family was in the Himalayan Glacier group when the floods struck.

She said her dad, Umesh Kumar, 56, wanted to make the trip for many years and travelled through India to Nepal, where he was joined by her sister, Akanksha, 32, and her sister’s husband, Ishan, 32.

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