Number of Nepal earthquake victims from abroad still unknown
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Version 0 of 1. The number of foreign nationals still unaccounted for in Nepal remains unknown, 11 days after a powerful earthquake struck the country and killed thousands. Fears are growing for those who have not yet contacted their families, many of whom are running campaigns for updates on Facebook and Twitter as rescuers continue to dig through the rubble. The 7.8 magnitude quake struck at midday on 25 April at a busy time of year for the country’s trekking and climbing industries, with an estimated 300,000 foreign tourists in Nepal. Related: Nepal quake survivors face threat from human traffickers supplying sex trade The UK Foreign Office and foreign ministries of other countries have been reluctant to offer figures for how many of their nationals are still unaccounted for, with most refusing to provide estimates on what is still an uncertain situation. Estimates of the number of missing vary widely, from a total of 109 given by Nepal’s tourist police to more than 1,000 Europeans alone unaccounted for according to the European Union’s top diplomat in the country. Rensje Teerink, head of the EU delegation to Nepal, said: “Of course [it] doesn’t mean they are dead. It just means they haven’t reported back.” A total of 57 foreign nationals have been confirmed killed, including 40 Indians, and another 52 were injured, the tourist police said. One Briton and one Spaniard are among the confirmed dead, as well as four Americans. Nepalese officials say it is impossible to say what the eventual number will be. The rising death toll from the quake, Nepal’s worst in more than 80 years, has reached more than 7,500. Rescuers digging through thousands of tonnes of earth from a landslide in the Langtang valley have pulled the bodies of nine foreigners from one devastated village, an official told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “The entire village was wiped out by the mudslide. There were some 60 houses there, but they were all buried under rubble. It will be impossible to recover all the bodies,” said Gautam Rimal, the top government official in Rasuwa district. Among the missing since the landslide is Australian trekker Tyronne White, 44, who was last seen in the village, which is also called Langtang. The Australian government had sent a team to the area to help in the search for him. Related: A graphical guide to Nepal's earthquake Spanish rescue teams are also scouring the area, according to Spain’s foreign ministry. Eight Spaniards who were in Nepal at the time of the earthquake are still missing. Some foreign embassies have begun hanging posters in Nepalese hospitals in the hope that doctors or nurses might be able to identify injured foreigners, according to reports. Nepal’s tourism department told Agence France-Presse that more than 550 trekkers had registered to hike in Langtang from mid-April onwards. Uddhav Bhattarai, Rasuwa’s chief district officer, told AFP it was impossible to say how many tourists had been killed or remained missing in the area. “No more guesthouses are there, everything was wiped (out) by the avalanche,” he said. “Neighbouring guesthouses for trekkers are there, some, but not in Langtang (village). No more in Langtang.” BBC footage from Langtang on Tuesday showed scenes of devastation, with houses razed and bodies laid out on tarpaulins on the desolate terrain, ringed by snow-capped mountains and dotted with Tibetan Buddhist stupas and prayer flags. |