Nepal floods: Maharashtra travellers cross at Kodari as families seek reliable case updates
MUMBAI, August 31 — A group of 69 Maharashtra pilgrims and tourists stranded after the Himalayan floods was reported to have crossed from China into Nepal through the Kodari immigration route, with onward travel to Mumbai planned for Monday. The crossing is a confirmed development in the available reporting; completion of the Mumbai arrival was not independently established for this update.
The distinction matters to families tracking relatives through several stages of a disrupted journey. Crossing a border, reaching a departure point, boarding a flight and arriving home are separate events.
What the return reports establish
Reporting published early Monday placed the group’s border crossing late on Saturday. The Maharashtra government’s account also described a Monday return plan. Those reports support saying that the group had moved out of China into Nepal, not that everybody had already reached Mumbai.
Other travellers had returned earlier, but published totals vary by group and reporting time. Combining those separate accounts into a single statewide arrival figure would risk counting people twice.
Why the missing-person totals need reconciliation
Early reports referred to either 66 or 67 Maharashtra travellers still untraceable. They did not provide a sufficiently reconciled, person-by-person official update to resolve that difference here.
A person who is safe but awaiting transport is not a missing person. A person reported uncontactable is not thereby confirmed dead. Families should seek a case-specific response rather than infer a relative’s situation from a changing aggregate number.
Official assistance for families
The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu’s August 29 identification-support notice says it is coordinating with Nepali authorities, including Nepal Police, on identifying Indian victims and handing over remains to next of kin after identification.
The notice lists these public embassy contacts:
- +977 985 131 6807
- +977 970 910 7500
- +977 981 032 6117
- eoikathmandufloodsupport@gmail.com
The linked official notice leads to identification material that may be distressing. This article does not reproduce photographs of remains or private missing-person lists.
As a privacy precaution, passport scans, medical records and relatives’ personal phone numbers should be shared directly with the responsible authorities, not posted in public comment threads. Keep any case reference and the time of the last confirmed contact together when requesting an update.
Archive location photograph: vehicles at Kodari, Nepal, 15 May 2014. These are not the travellers or transport involved in the 2026 return operation. Photo: Andrew and Annemarie, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
