DHARWAD: A 45-year-old software engineer from Karnataka, who has been living in Australia for the past 10 years, is among a group of people reported missing after flash floods in Nepal, his family said on Thursday.Rakesh Nayak had recently travelled to Mansarovar on a package tour organised by the Isha Foundation, they said.At least 13 people from Karnataka, including 11 from Bengaluru Urban district, are stranded in Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region, chief minister DK Shivakumar’s office said on Thursday.Speaking to reporters, Nayak’s father Shivaprasad, a retired railway officer, said his son reached an immigration office near the Nepal-China border at around 9.10 pm on August 26, and flash floods hit the area around 20 minutes later.“He was inside the office when the floods came. That is the information we have received. After that, there has been no communication,” he said.Shivaprasad said the family was initially informed that Nayak and others were safe, but they have not been able to establish contact with him.He recalled that he last spoke to his son on August 12, when Nayak called him from Delhi before leaving for the tour.However, his son was communicating with his wife using another SIM card, as his regular SIM was not working in the region.“The last communication between his son and his wife was on August 25,” he said.The family has approached the Indian Embassy and other officials for information about his whereabouts.“An IFS officer has contacted the officer at the China border. We are in direct contact with the Embassy officer. Everyone is trying, but we are not getting any communication or information about what happened,” Shivaprasad said.He said the Isha Foundation was also making efforts to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing people and had received information that its representatives were heading towards the affected building to check.“As of now, they are missing,” he said.At least 290 Indians remain missing and around 200 others are stranded on the Chinese side following devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border, with New Delhi in constant contact with authorities in both nations to coordinate their rescue, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.(With inputs from PTI)
