Nepal earthquake: fate of missing Britons unknown

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/28/fate-dozens-britons-nepal-unknown-death-toll

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Dozens of British families remain uncertain about the fate of loved ones still missing in Nepal days after a powerful earthquake struck the country, as the UK government stepped up its offer of assistance.

Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, said on Tuesday that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) was investigating unconfirmed reports that a non-UK resident British national was among the dead. “Our teams on the ground will report back as soon as they have any further information on that,” Hammond said.

He said FCO staff were working hard to identify and assist British nationals in Nepal. Dozens are listed on a Red Cross website set up for people searching for those caught in the disaster over the weekend.

The number confirmed killed by the disaster so far stands at more than 5,000, but the final toll could be as high as 10,000, the Nepalese prime minister has warned.

Related: Nepal's PM says quake death toll could reach 10,000

Hammond said he had spoken to the Nepalese prime minister, Sushil Koirala, on Tuesday morning, assuring him of the UK’s commitment to providing emergency assistance. “A British army Gurkha team was on Everest [and] is continuing to trek down the mountain, identifying and reporting British nationals as they go. We’ve also got Gurkhas from the Gurkha training base in Nepal who are assisting the local authorities,” he added.

Hammond said 60 British government personnel, including search-and-rescue teams and other disaster experts, were already in Nepal. Meanwhile, a C17 transport plane with British army Gurkha engineers, equipment and a Boeing 767 chartered by the Department for International Development loaded with rescue teams and supplies were also on their way and waiting to land at Kathmandu when the weather allowed. “We’ll hold a COBR (cabinet office briefing room) meeting tomorrow, which I will chair, to take stock of where we are and to look at further needs of the Nepalese government.”

James Emperor, 66, from south London, said he had not heard from his son, David, 34, since last Thursday. “He’d just finished a trek, a couple of weeks’ trek, then he was resting in Kathmandu,” said Emperor.

“He was definitely in Kathmandu because he was going to watch the Spurs-Southampton game live, which would have been on there about 8 o’clock [on Saturday].”

Kathmandu was 50 miles from the epicentre of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on Saturday morning. Search teams are still digging through the rubble of the city in an effort to rescue survivors.

Emperor said: “When I woke up on the Saturday morning, it’s on the news: earthquake in Kathmandu. I thought ‘fuck’, but they said 50 people [were killed] so I thought it was minor. But then it escalated.”

Emperor said he had access to his son’s emails, but none had been opened since 23 April.

“If he’s out there wandering about, he’ll cope with it. It won’t bother him. If he’s OK, he’s OK. He’s able to cope. The only thing I’ll be worried about is if he’s one of these people under the rubble.”

Emperor said his daughter, Laura, 28, had been trying to track down David through whatever means she could from their home in south London. As well as posting a plea on the Red Cross website for information, she had made appeals on Facebook and contacted the Foreign Office.

“I watch the news and all that, and all I can think is he must be in one of those tents [pitched to shelter survivors],” Emperor said.

Other families have been more lucky. Maria Whyles, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, said her son Jake, who had been backpacking in Nepal, had managed to make contact at 4am on Sunday morning. But then, after the major aftershock hit that day, he went missing again, only to ring on Monday afternoon to tell her he was in Qatar.

“He was in a bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu and he said he had been in a little village outside Pokhara,” Whyles said. “As he was on the bus, he was describing everything he was seeing as he was going along. Then, all of a sudden, a major aftershock came and we lost contact.

“Then at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon he managed to get in touch. He didn’t even know where he was, really. He said I’m in this hotel and it’s got a bed and it’s got food.”

Jake had managed to catch a flight out of Kathmandu that had taken him to Doha. He was in an airport hotel waiting for a connecting flight to Barcelona. Whyles said the details of how her son had managed to leave Nepal were sketchy. “We don’t know and I don’t really think he actually knows,” she said.

In his message home just before the 6.7-magnitude aftershock on Sunday, Jake said the road to Kathmandu was covered in bodies and rubble. Crowds in the capital were surging in panic around collapsed buildings and dangling electrical cables. He told how he slept in the open with some monks. Nepalese locals sheltered in makeshift huts in the streets amid an atmosphere he described as “dark”.

His descriptions continued with an account of rescue workers carrying the bodies of the dead, until he suddenly broke off with “fuck it’s happening again … I’m off outside”.

Other British survivors have keep in touch with families back home using Twitter, including one newlywed couple who were on the side of Everest when the earthquake struck. On Tuesday, Alex Schneider and Sam Chappatte, both 28 and from London, were among the last climbers airlifted from 19,000ft (5,790m) up the mountain back to Everest base camp, where they described the scene as like a bomb site.

We are in basecamp. Got down just before the fog. Now searching for our stuff. Its a bomb site. Bits of gear over 100 http://t.co/ReoLcCpeQA

The couple were with a group of climbers led by Dan Mazur, who earlier described how they, their fellow climbers and their Sherpa guides were cut off when Sunday’s aftershock triggered avalanches on three sides and destroyed their route down.

Aftershock @ 1pm! Horrible here in camp 1. Avalanches on 3 sides. C1 a tiny island. We worry about icefall team below.. Alive?

The climbers were stranded overnight on the mountainside until rescue teams arrived by helicopter on Monday. An entry on their blog, which had been taken over by a relative, described how more than 150 were rescued that morning but Mazur, Schneider and Chappatte were left stranded after airlifts stopped at 1pm when fog shrouded the mountainside.

All three were finally taken to safety on Tuesday morning.

Also listed as missing was Ian Wainman, from Manchester, who had been trekking in the mountains with his friend Marcus Boog, from Leeds. He posted on Facebook on Monday to let loved ones know he was okay.

“It’s times like this you’re humbled by the fact that the earth’s in control and not us mere mortals,” he wrote. In a second post, he said: “”My thoughts [and] prayers go to all my Nepalese friends and the fantastic people I have met over the 18 years since I first experienced this beautiful country.

“We’re walking to [P]okhara over the next couple of days and due to fly out of Kathmandu on the 9th. Who knows what we’re walking into there. Just taking each day as it comes. Thanks for everyone who was concerned were all good.”