Nepal Floods: British Couple With Kolkata Roots Reported Missing

A British couple with roots in Kolkata has been missing for four days after devastating flash floods struck the area near the Nepal-Tibet border, leaving their family anxiously awaiting information about their whereabouts. Anal Kar, 56, and his wife Sanjukta Kar, 50, were on a pilgrimage to Kailash Manasarovar when communication with them was lost. The couple had travelled to Kathmandu from New Delhi on August 18 and were last traced to Timure.

The couple were part of an eight-day trek to Kailash Manasarovar arranged by Kathmandu-based tour agency Kailash Journeys. The group consisted of 31 people, including 26 tourists from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia, along with five agency staff members. Their daughter, Aratrika Kar, said the family had remained in contact with them after they reached the region, although poor connectivity frequently disrupted calls.

Aratrika, a 24-year-old doctor working at a hospital in Wales, last spoke to her mother on Tuesday, a day before an ice-rock landslide blocked a river and triggered the flash floods. The call was disconnected, after which Sanjukta sent a message to her father indicating that the couple were around 15 kilometres from a checkpoint on the Nepal-Tibet border. The tour agency later informed the family that the couple had been waiting at the checkpoint.

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The family has contacted British authorities, the British embassy in Kathmandu and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office seeking assistance in tracing the couple. However, they have not received any confirmed information about their whereabouts. Aratrika and her brother Sankhadeep have travelled to Kolkata to stay with their maternal grandfather in Garia while considering whether to travel to Nepal themselves. Relatives have also been attempting to contact the couple, but their phone numbers remain unreachable.

Saikat Sen, the couple's brother-in-law, said the family identified Timure as their last known location through social media posts uploaded around 8.10 am on August 26. Kailash Journeys manager Sujay Wasti said the agency had been unable to reach the affected area because access was restricted and rescue operations were being conducted by defence personnel. Nepalese authorities have described the situation as extremely difficult, with large quantities of flood debris spread across the affected region.

The disaster has also affected several Indian nationals along the Nepal-Tibet border, with the Ministry of External Affairs reporting that at least 320 Indians remain missing and around 400 others are stranded on the Chinese side. For the Kar family, however, the immediate priority remains finding Anal and Sanjukta. Their children and relatives continue to seek information from authorities and rescue teams while holding on to hope that the missing couple can still be located.

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