Pilgrims at Border Crossing Are Among 500 Foreigners Missing After Flood

In one moment, the imposing border crossing looks calm. In the next, people are running for their lives as muddy floodwaters descend, engulfing buildings and eventually the CCTV cameras capturing the catastrophe.

Initial tallies from the Nepali authorities include more than 500 foreign nationals among those missing in the aftermath of devastating floods that struck the Himalayan border area between Nepal and the Tibet region of China. The figure includes 65 Americans, 53 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 35 Australians and 33 Britons.

At least 288 Indian citizens were missing in the flood-struck parts of Nepal, including 73 people who had been working on a hydropower project, India’s foreign ministry said Thursday. Nine South Korean citizens who were working on a hydroelectric power plant project were also missing, South Korean officials said.

More than 1,000 people in total are missing across Nepal and Tibet.

The largest contingent of missing foreign nationals appears to have been pilgrims. At least two groups, totaling about 130 people, were near the Gyirong border crossing when the floods struck, according to tour organizers and relatives. They were either headed into Tibet for a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a Himalayan site sacred to Hindus and Buddhists, or returning after completing the pilgrimage.

The largest group, of 80 people, was part of a tour organized by the Isha Foundation, which is run by an Indian spiritual guru and entrepreneur known as Sadhguru.

In an emotional video released on Thursday, Sadhguru said that the group — 46 women and 34 men from 19 countries — had reached the immigration checkpoint minutes before the floods came.

“Literally, the entire group was there at the building,” he said, as people could be heard weeping around him.

Sadhguru, who is in Tibet, said he had led his own tour group through the same immigration checkpoint just days earlier. That building was washed away, he said, and there had been no contact with the other tour group leader, whom he identified as Praveen.

“We have no official confirmation of any kind,” Sadhguru said. “But looking at the scale of destruction, it looks bad.”

A second group, of more than 50 Indian pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, had told loved ones back home that they were setting off for the border checkpoint before the flooding occurred. Friends and relatives of Syed Umar Farooq, the tour’s coordinator, said they had not been able to contact anyone in the group since the floods.

Another 40 travelers and seven staff members from Himalayan Glacier, a U.S.-based tour company, had also planned to cross into Tibet. Sagar Pandey, the company’s chief executive, said he had not heard from anyone in the group since Wednesday morning.

Mr. Pandey said on Wednesday that he had flown over the affected area in a helicopter in an effort to help, but it was too dangerous to land. The devastation stretched for miles, he said, and almost nothing remained of the hotel where the group had stayed.

“It’s very heartbreaking,” he said. “I had hope until I reached the area.”

Laura Chung, Jin Yu Young, and Alex Travelli contributed reporting.