Key facts
- A daughter used a TikTok video to trace the last known location of her mother and aunt in Nepal before flash floods.
- The floods in Nepal and Tibet have killed at least 675 people, with over 3,000 missing.
- The missing include 33 British nationals, with a UK team arriving in Kathmandu on Saturday.
- The TikTok video showed the women at the Nepal-China border, indicating they crossed on Wednesday morning, hours before the flood.
- The flood is thought to have been caused by a seismic event near the border.
The daughter of a woman missing in Nepal has detailed how she used a TikTok video to pinpoint her mother and aunt's last known location just hours before devastating flash floods struck the region.
Catastrophic flash floods in Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday have resulted in at least 675 deaths and left over 3,000 people missing. Among the missing are 33 British nationals, prompting a UK team to travel to Kathmandu.
Tulshi Patel's mother, Hemangini Jitendra Patel, and her aunt, Hema Sunil Amin, were on a pilgrimage to Tibet. Patel last communicated with them on Monday and received a photo on Tuesday. Their tour group's GPS signal placed them at Friendship Bridge on the Nepal-China border.
Patel discovered a TikTok video, posted by their local Nepali tour guide on Wednesday morning, showing her mother, aunt, and three others waiting to cross the border. This indicated they crossed later than planned, likely due to weather conditions, and were in the area just before the flood.
The flood is believed to have been triggered by a magnitude 5.2 seismic event near the Nepal-China border at 8:37 a.m. local time on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Patel described her mother and aunt as being in good health and well-prepared for their trip, which had been a long-held aspiration. She has been attempting to contact the tour guide for any news.
Other families are also grappling with the crisis. Neetu Goyal Tiwari, 51, was on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar when the floods hit. Her family, primarily in India, faces difficulties obtaining visas to search for her. Leena Bector, 53, from Slough, is among 27 travellers unaccounted for, with her husband booking a flight to Kathmandu.