The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced on Saturday, Aug. 29, that 64 Ukrainian citizens are now officially considered missing following the catastrophic floods and landslides that devastated the Nepal-Tibet border region earlier this week.
The MFA updated the figure from the previously reported 56 missing citizens. The ministry stated that, as of Saturday, there is no information indicating that Ukrainians are among those confirmed dead or injured in the disaster zone.
According to the MFA, search-and-rescue operations in Nepal are being conducted daily, starting early in the morning. However, the use of aircraft is complicated by dense fog and is generally only possible during the first half of the day.
The ministry noted that rescue operations were temporarily suspended on Friday, Aug. 28, due to the high risk of a landslide-dammed lake breaching in Tibet, but searches resumed on water, land, and from the air after a gradual, controlled outflow of water was recorded.
In an effort to locate the missing citizens, the Ukrainian Embassy in India initiated a request through Interpol to the company operating devices with geolocation capabilities that some of the Ukrainian tourists were carrying.
The MFA confirmed that data containing the last coordinates recorded before the natural disaster struck has been obtained, and attempts to establish the current locations of the devices are ongoing.
A group of consular officers from the Embassy of Ukraine in India is currently on the ground in Nepal to coordinate with local search-and-rescue services, tour operators, and foreign partners. The MFA stated that it is keeping the case of the 64 missing citizens under “special control.”
Regional disaster in Nepal
The search for the missing Ukrainians is part of a massive regional rescue operation following a catastrophic debris flow that struck the Himalayan border region on Wednesday morning, wiping out entire villages along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems.
According to Nepal’s disaster-management authorities, the confirmed death toll in the country has risen to 626, with an additional 2,426 people still missing. Chinese authorities have reported seven deaths and over 550 people missing on the Tibetan side of the border.
The missing include hundreds of foreign nationals, many of whom were tourists and pilgrims traveling along one of the main routes connecting Kathmandu with Tibet toward Mount Kailash.
The US Geological Survey determined that the disaster was caused by a major glacial collapse and subsequent debris flow, rather than an earthquake as initially suspected by Nepalese officials. The collapse blocked a river before the natural dam failed, releasing a towering wall of mud, rocks, and water downstream.
Rescue efforts remain severely hampered by deep mud, damaged road infrastructure, disrupted communications, and the ongoing threat of further landslides in the unstable terrain.