MANILA — A 30-year-old Filipino doctor is among hundreds missing after flash floods and landslides hit the Nepal-Tibet border, his family confirmed Friday as they sought help in the search for their kin.
Dr. Juan Carlos Manalo last contacted his family in the Philippines on August 25, as part of his routine check-in while he is out of the country, his sister Chiara told ABS-CBN News.
The millennial physician arrived in Nepal in the first week of August to join the Isha Sadghuru group on their Kailashyatra tour, a sacred pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in a mountainous region between Nepal and China.
The foreign tourists missing in Nepal's flash floods
“The last message we got from him was August 25 after 1 p.m., but it was morning in Nepal at that time because he said, ‘Good morning,’” Chiara said in a phone interview.
“Then Wednesday (August 26), I got a message from my mom na may tumawag sa kaniya na may flash flood… My brother cannot be contacted,” she said.
Their family has reached out to both the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi and to the pilgrimage group’s contact person in the Philippines, but both have yet to confirm if the Filipino doctor survived the disaster that killed nearly 500 people.
“We’re hopeful, of course. We are praying and hoping na he is okay,” Chiara said.
“My mom couldn’t sleep at night and I actually can’t call my parents because I know I will just cry during the call so I try to avoid calling them, we just message constantly,” she said.
“It’s very difficult na we don’t know what is happening,” she said.
Chiara — also a doctor working in Palawan — said she has considered flying to Nepal to expedite the search for her missing brother, but so far, the family has yet to finalize their plans.
“Of course, I would want to go there but logically thinking, how much would my presence expedite the search for him? How close can I get there ba?” she said.
“And the process of getting my visa, my passport and plane tickets, it could take longer,” she added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs earlier said that its diplomatic offices in India and Nepal “are in active coordination with local authorities and stand ready to extend assistance to affected Filipinos.”
“They are awaiting confirmation from Nepali authorities on a Filipino national who is reported missing,” the DFA’s statement read.
Emergency teams have recovered 472 bodies after a tsunami-like wall of water and mud crashed down on Wednesday, burying homes, smashing bridges and sweeping away vehicles in both Nepal and Tibet.
Tragedy in Nepal: How do flash floods happen?
More than 1,400 people are missing, including trekkers in the Himalayas and scores of Hindu pilgrims to Tibet's sacred snow-capped Mount Kailash.
The US Geological Survey said the disaster -- the deadliest for Nepal since a 2015 earthquake -- was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.
The deluge of ice and mud also caused huge pools of water to form, with one of these formations bursting on Friday in Tibet in a new threat to emergency workers scouring the region for survivors.
Nepali police on Friday afternoon urged all rescuers to "immediately move to a safe location", saying it had received information that "a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side".
Nepal says dam burst in Tibet, warns rescuers to head to safety: police
“I don’t know what to say and I don’t know how to be there for my parents when I am working here,” Chiara said.
“I know they are hoping, I’m also hoping but when I saw the videos of the flash floods, it’s very difficult,” she said.
“I hope he can be found alive and well.”
— With a report from Agence France-Presse