'We just want them home': Daughters of couple missing after Tibet pilgrimage
Hundreds of foreign nationals are desperately waiting to hear from loved ones thought to be caught in the deadly flash flood and mudslide along the Nepal-Tibet border.
Sisters Shreya and Ashna Ahuja are among those anxiously waiting for some news of their parents, Deepak and Madhu Ahuja, who had travelled from Texas to Mount Kailash on a group pilgrimage.
"It's only been one day, but it has felt like much longer," the sisters tell the BBC. "We just love them a lot and want them to come home." One of the siblings spoke to their parents just before the floods struck.
More than 1,300 people are missing, including tourists from the US, Australia, Canada, India, and the UK. Nepali authorities say more than 380 people have died.
Follow live updates: Fears of second flood as search for survivors continues
About 90 US citizens may have been impacted by the floods, the State Department said on Thursday, confirming that three Americans had been rescued.
The Ahuja sisters have contacted the State Department and US embassies in Delhi, Nepal and China, but they say they have no concrete information on the whereabouts of their parents.
The region is a pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhists, and visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.
Radhika Sharma's parents, Ramesh Sharma, 65 and Neelam Sharma, 64, two US citizens who live in New York City, were also travelling to Mount Kailash in the Kathmandu region when the disaster struck.
The pilgrimage was their first trip on their own since retiring last year.
"I am just trying to find them, I don't have any answers," Radhika Sharma told the BBC. Sharma is typically in frequent contact with her parents, often texting multiple times during the day.
"The last we know is they were at the border at 8am, so about an hour before the floods," she said. "And we are hoping that they made it to the Tibet side."
Sharma, who has been in contact with the US embassies in Beijing and Kathmandu, said: "No one has any answers."
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