Tulshi Patel, a pharmacist from Milton Keynes, has traced the last known location of her mother, Hemangini Jitendra Patel, and aunt, Hema Sunil Amin, through a TikTok video. The video, posted hours before the devastating flash flood hit, showed the two women and three others from their tour group at Friendship Bridge on the Nepal-China border.
The catastrophic flash floods, which struck Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, have resulted in at least 675 deaths and left over 3,000 people missing. Among those unaccounted for are 33 British nationals, including a 13-year-old, NHS workers, and a priest.
Tulshi Patel stated that her mother and aunt had been planning their pilgrimage to Tibet since the beginning of the year. Their last known location was identified via a GPS signal from their tour group at Friendship Bridge. The flood is believed to have occurred after a magnitude 5.2 seismic event near the Nepal-China border on Wednesday at 8:37 am local time.
A team from the UK is expected to arrive in Kathmandu, the Nepali capital, on Saturday. Some families of those missing have travelled to the affected region from the UK, including Bhupesh Bector, whose wife Leena Bector is among the missing.