Like many Australians, Samir Patel is watching the cataclysm unfolding on the Nepalese-Tibetan border with a sense of dread, desperately hoping the 41 countrymen and women of his missing after Wednesday’s flash flooding are found alive.
But he also feels a deep sense of relief and gratitude, because he knows that number could have been higher.
Patel runs Hindu pilgrimages to Tibet’s Mount Kailash several times a year, and the third and final group was due to begin their 11-day tour from Lhasa, east of the Himalayas, to the border town of Gyirong on August 20.
“Unfortunately – or now I can say fortunately, very fortunately – we did not get the booking to Lhasa in the Himalayan Airlines flight because of a lack of seats, even though I booked two-and-a-half months prior,” Patel said.
“So I had to completely reverse the itinerary.”
The group instead got helicoptered into Gyirong, and were safely out of harm’s way when a wall of water ravaged the area on August 26.
“I am feeling so lucky, you know, as a group leader,” Patel said. “The reversed itinerary is the indication, you know, that god provided us. And I’m so glad and so thankful to the god that they just looked after us very well.”
Patel said his tour group included seven Australians and 19 Americans, whom he has made contact with since the flash flood.
“Emotionally they weren’t prepared for what happened, but they feel very lucky that they were far away from there and are alive,” he said.
Patel was in Kathmandu when news of the flood broke. Like many guides, he has become close with the locals in Nepal who help carry out his tours in the area. He has not heard from two of his contractors since the wall of water came through Gyirong.
“I’ve been trying to contact them. But, you know, there is zero contact and it looks like they are missing as well because I haven’t heard anything from them or their family.”
Patel has also been shouldering the emotional burden of distressed families back in Australia. He is well known for organising these pilgrimages in his native Sydney, and relatives of some of the 41 missing Australians have been in touch, seeking his help to locate their missing loved ones.
Chinese state media has reported seven people have died and more than 500 remain unaccounted for on their side of the border, with rescue operations continuing.
Mount Kailash is one of the most spiritual places in the world for Hindus, and also a sacred site for Buddhists and other religions. As the home of the principal deity Lord Shiva, it attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims braving the high altitudes each year.
“It might take a year or so to forget this, but people will still go,” Patel said.
“I’m already planning next year that when I take everyone, I might change my route.”
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