B.C. couple missing after catastrophic flash flooding on Nepal

A B.C. couple is missing following the severe flash flooding and mudslides along the Nepal-Tibet border and their family is desperate to get the word out to help find them.

Dhaval and Megha Shah were on a tour in the Timure region when ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering the disaster.

The floods occurred in a border area of Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of China, killing at least 390 and leaving more than 1,400 people missing as of Thursday evening. Many were foreigners in the area for trekking, guided tours or a pilgrimage to a sacred Hindu site.

Nikita Shah told Global News that her cousin, Dhaval, and his wife, Megha, were known to be at the Hotel Kailash, where they were staying and they had breakfast.

“And then from different information we gather, it’s either there or en route on a jeep to the checkpoint, where they would then cross the border,” Shah said.

“So the Hotel Kailash, from what we understand, is like about 1.5 km from the checkpoint, so they were somewhere in that location and, you know, the (tour) company lost contact with anybody at around 8:30 that morning, so we don’t know where they have been since then.”

Shah said that she has tried every avenue she can think of to try and find out some news.

She is also asking for the Canadian government to help.

“We’ve obviously contacted them, called them, we always get the generic response: we don’t know anything, we’ll let you know when we have some more information, you know, and that while it’s easy to say that, some real concrete information would be really helpful,” she added.

The number of Canadians missing in Nepal and the Tibet region has climbed to 30 from 25 Wednesday, according to the latest update from the federal government.

Shah said they are trying to remain hopeful that Dhaval and Megha will be found.

“When it’s your loved one, who doesn’t want to be hopeful? ” she said.

“Of course, there’s images that we see, but then there’s also all this information that we get that they could be at a higher elevation, they could be there, they could have ran.”

Shah said Dhaval is a Navy captain, so she is hoping he was able to use some of his training to get him and his wife to safety.

“We love you guys and we hope you’re okay and we’re going to pray for some miracle and we are just going to keep working on it,” Shah said.

–with files from Ariel Rabinovitch