20 Minutes Before Nepal Flood, a Final Call, Then Silence: Boston Nepali Family Awaits Four Missing Relatives
Tej Kumari Gurung and her husband, Babar Gurung, are among four relatives reported missing after flooding struck the Nepal-China border region while they were traveling toward Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar. Photo: Family
For Raju Gurung’s family in Boston, the last words they heard from their relatives were reassuring: They had reached the Chinese immigration point after crossing the Nepal-China border and were continuing their long-awaited pilgrimage toward Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar.
About 20 minutes later, the calls stopped.
Gurung, a Boston resident, said his family has not heard from four relatives since catastrophic flooding struck the Nepal-China border region near Rasuwagadhi, a major gateway for pilgrims traveling from Nepal to Tibet.
Among those missing are his cousin, Tej Kumari Gurung; her husband, Babar Gurung; and two other relatives, Thaneshwar Gurung and Tara Gurung. The family says all four were part of a larger pilgrimage group traveling toward Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar with two other friends.
“They were on their way to Mansarovar,” Gurung said. “My sister called the family and said they had reached the immigration area on the China side. About 20 minutes later, the disaster happened. Since then, there has been no contact.”
For days, that final call has remained the family’s only confirmed link to the four travelers.
A Pilgrimage Turns Into Uncertainty
The missing travelers had set out through the Rasuwagadhi border route, which connects Nepal’s Rasuwa district with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and is widely used by people undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage.
Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar are among Asia’s most revered pilgrimage sites. The journey draws Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Bon pilgrims each year, many of whom travel through Kathmandu and Rasuwa before entering Tibet through the Rasuwagadhi crossing.
The route’s appeal is practical as well as spiritual. For older pilgrims, it can be viewed as a comparatively accessible overland route, particularly when travel documents and group permits have already been arranged. More than 13,500 pilgrims passed through the Rasuwagadhi border checkpoint during Nepal’s 2025-26 fiscal year.
But the route became the center of a humanitarian disaster this week after flash floods and mudflows tore through the Nepal-China border region, destroying roads, bridges and communication links and leaving large numbers of residents and visitors unaccounted for.
According to the latest Nepal Police update released at 4 p.m. Saturday local time, 669 bodies have been recovered and 2,301 people have been injured or rescued. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 2,426 people remained out of contact in its latest update.
For Gurung’s family, those large figures are not abstract. They are Tej Kumari’s unanswered phone. Babar’s missing location. The absence of news from Thaneshwar and Tara.
From the United Kingdom to Nepal
Tej Kumari Gurung and Babar Gurung had traveled to Nepal from the United Kingdom, where they live as British citizens, family members said. They arrived in Nepal in July and later joined the pilgrimage through Lift Holiday Travel.
The other two missing relatives live in Nepal, Gurung said.
Tej Kumari Gurung is about 68 years old, according to her family. Babar Gurung is also in his 70s. The two other missing relatives are also older adults, he said.
That detail has deepened the family’s fears as rescue efforts continue in the remote, high-altitude region.
“They are older people, and that makes us even more worried,” Gurung said. “We do not know where they are, what happened to them or what condition they may be in.”
A Family Waits Across Borders
The Gurung family has roots in Okhreni Simle, Ward No. 2 of Siranchok Rural Municipality in Gorkha district. The relatives were most recently associated with the Baikunthapuri residential area of Tokha Municipality Ward No. 11 in Kathmandu, according to a family appeal.
From Boston, Gurung has been following updates while relatives in Nepal work to obtain information from the disaster zone.
One family member has traveled toward the affected area to seek information and coordinate with those involved in the search, he said. But access remains difficult.
“The place is remote and high up,” Gurung said. “There has been rescue work, but there is still no information about people who lost contact.”
The flood disaster has disrupted a region where the border, tourism operations, immigration procedures and mountain roads all converge. Pilgrims commonly travel from Kathmandu through Syafrubesi and Timure to Rasuwagadhi, then cross into Tibet after their Chinese group visas and Tibet travel permits are verified.
Gurung said his relatives had already crossed the Nepal side and were at the Chinese immigration point when Tej Kumari made her last call.
The family does not know whether the group had fully cleared Chinese immigration, boarded another vehicle, reached a staging area or been moved elsewhere before the flood struck.
An Appeal for Verified Information
The family is asking Nepal’s government, tourism officials, security agencies, border authorities and the travel company to help establish what happened to the group.
Gurung said the family does not want speculation. It wants confirmation.
“We are waiting for any information — good or bad — but we need to know,” he said. “Our family, relatives and the whole community are waiting for them.”
In a Nepali-language appeal, the family called on the missing relatives to make contact by any possible means.
“Wherever you are, and whatever your condition, please try to contact us,” the notice said. “Our family, all the people of Okhreni Simle and all relatives are waiting for you.”