Kolkata: As staffers of Chalo Jaai Travel Club spent a second day seeking information on the 32 missing team members, including tour manager Jayanta Sanyal, the travel firm’s founder and owner, Dibyojyoti Basu, recalled how the group to Kailash-Mansarovar had narrowly escaped a flash flood in 2025.“Last year, we were among the first groups to get clearance for the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra. The trip had resumed in June 2025 after a five-year hiatus. On July 8, barely a few hours after our group, managed by Jayanta, had crossed the Friendship Bridge over Trishuli river, a flash flood swept the bridge away. We knew it had been a close call. But it is only after Wednesday’s tragedy that I realise how lucky we had been,” Basu said.Though last year’s flood in the Rasuwagadhi border area along the Nepal-China border was less severe than the one this year, eight persons died, dozens of Nepalese and Chinese workers went missing, and hundreds of parked trucks and electric vehicles were destroyed.“That flood, too, was caused by monsoon rain and a likely glacial lake outburst. The yatra was halted thereafter,” Basu said.Rescue efforts on Friday were hampered by the risk of a second flood. A lake formed by a landslide on the Nepal-China border began overflowing, forcing rescue operations to stop. Chinese personnel were asked to withdraw to a safe area, state broadcaster CCTV said. Nepal authorities also paused rescue work for an hour and a half.At the Chalo Jaai office on Ho Chi Minh Sarani, staffers continued to hope. Basu said he felt particularly hamstrung by Sanyal’s absence. “Jayanta is our star manager. He managed the Kailash-Mansarovar trip and knew several Nepalese and Chinese officials and agents,” Basu said.Sanyal, a former cameraman on an investigative TV programme helmed by Basu, had switched to the travel trade after Basu founded Chalo Jaai Travel Club. A resident of Tarakeshwar, he quickly established himself as one of the most resourceful members of the team.“He is family. Seven years ago, when he lost his wife, the infant and his mother stayed at our house for two months. The girl is now seven. Jayanta remarried late last year, and we were so glad they were a complete family again. Now, the child’s father has walked into this tragedy. We are all praying for a miracle,” said Basu, who is in touch with Sanyal’s wife.
