Daughter traces mother and aunt's last known location in Nepal through TikTok video
A British family tracked down a TikTok video revealing the last known whereabouts of two women missing in Nepal near the Chinese border. Devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet have killed at least 675 people, with more than 3,000 still missing.
Tulshi Patel, a pharmacist from Milton Keynes, has described how her family's own research uncovered footage showing her mother's and aunt's location just hours before catastrophic flash floods struck Nepal and Tibet.
Her mother, Hemangini Jitendra Patel, and aunt, Hema Sunil Amin, had set off on a long-planned pilgrimage into Tibet. The two women have been uncontactable since Wednesday's flash floods, which tore through valleys and destroyed entire villages, killing at least 675 people so far, with more than 3,000 still unaccounted for.
Among the missing are 33 British nationals, including a 13-year-old child, NHS staff and a priest. A UK team is due to arrive in Kathmandu on Saturday.
Patel said the trip had been on her mother and aunt's "bucket list" since the start of the year. She last spoke to them on Monday and received a photo on Tuesday. Their last confirmed location came from a GPS signal placing their tour group at the Friendship Bridge on the Nepal-China border — a crossing later swept away by the floods.
TikTok discovery
Through their own digging, the family found a TikTok video, apparently filmed by the tour's local Nepali guide, showing Patel's mother, aunt and three other travellers waiting at the border to cross. The footage was taken early Wednesday morning, just before 6am local time. The group had originally been due to cross on Tuesday but were delayed, likely due to weather, and ended up crossing on Wednesday instead.
The US Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 5.2 seismic event near the Nepal-China border on Wednesday morning, which is believed to have triggered the flooding.
Patel said her mother and aunt were in good health and had prepared thoroughly for the journey, including regular walks, and had been in a positive frame of mind about the trip. The family continues to message the women daily via WhatsApp and has reached out to the tour guide, though they acknowledge there is little more they can do from the UK.
Others still missing include Neetu Goyal Tiwari, 51, who was on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a site in Tibet sacred to Hindus and Buddhists, and Leena Bector, 53, from Slough, whose husband has travelled to Kathmandu himself after struggling to get information from UK authorities.
