Kolkata: Thirty-seven tourists from Bengal are missing in Nepal while two who were stranded near the disaster zone have been rescued and will be among the first to reach Kolkata on Saturday, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Friday.“A total of 39 persons from Bengal had gone missing in Nepal in the latest tragedy. Two of them — residents of Basirhat — have been rescued and are being brought back. They have already been brought to Kathmandu and will be flown to Kolkata on Saturday,” Adhikari said during an online meeting on Friday with the families of those missing in the flash flood.Urging relatives to remain hopeful, Adhikari said: “Please remain strong and pray to God. Never think that you are facing this crisis alone. The entire state is with you.”He said if any family member wants to travel to Nepal or China for information, the resident commissioner in Delhi will help expedite visa formalities. “If the MEA permits, the state will also send officials to the affected area for quicker access to information,” he added.The rescued Basirhat couple — Anukul Poddar and his wife, both in their 60s — had travelled to Nepal with another agency and were not part of Chalo Jaai, which had sent 30 tourists and two tour managers on the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra.Poddar’s brother-in-law, who attended the online meet, said the couple is supposed to take a train to India on Saturday. Adhikari instructed the Basirhat police super to arrange flight tickets for them.Rajarshi Roy Chowdhury, son of New Town residents Debabrata and Lekha Roy Chowdhury, said a list released by Nepal govt showed that his parents and others from the Chalo Jaai group had left the Nepal immigration centre. But there was no information on whether they had reached the Chinese immigration centre.“We have their last known location at the immigration land port. We urge the authorities to check the immigration records in Tibet and let us know,” appealed Rajarshi, a professor who flew back to Kolkata from Delhi after learning about the disaster.Adhikari said the first of the 32 members of the group had checked in at 8.08am Wednesday at the Nepal immigration centre, with Subhasree Chakraborty being the first. Jayanta Sanyal was the last, checking in at 8.24am. The flash flood hit the immigration centre at 8.30am.Ankita Ganguly, daughter of Mousumi and Arindam Ganguly from Durgapur, urged the govt to publish the list of rescued persons from the Chinese side. She referred to an MEA statement that nearly 500 people were safe in China and 96 had been brought to Nepal. “Kindly publish the list. Please find my parents,” she urged.A caller from Dum Dum said Mou Mandal’s 95-year-old father was distressed and requested information on Mou and her husband Swapan. Adhikari asked officials to contact and assist the family.People from Tarakeswar and Bardhaman also reported missing family members, including a man travelling alone and another working at a hydel power project in Rasuwa. The father of Nripen Sarkar, one of the Chalo Jaai tour managers, also appealed to the chief minister for help.Adhikari said the govt will consider creating a WhatsApp group to share updates with families and is compiling a list of people rescued from the Tibet side.
