One month after the Nepal-China border floods, families still await news of 54 Ukrainians Nepal says remain missing. A group of 56, mostly Ukrainians, disappeared while returning from Tibet; Nepal's destroyed immigration records complicate efforts to confirm who entered Nepal.
The 56-person group was traveling by bus from Tibet to Kathmandu on Aug. 26. Authorities attributed the flooding to ice and rock breaking away from a Himalayan slope; the group's last message was sent about 10 minutes before the slope collapsed. At least two families say Chinese authorities told them their relatives had left China but could not confirm whether they reached Nepal.
Nepal reports 636 foreign nationals still missing, including 54 Ukrainians; China reports 261 foreign nationals missing on its side, including one Ukrainian. The floods killed more than 1,400 people and left more than 6,000 missing. Nepal says it has recovered 1,451 bodies, but only 112 have been handed to families. It has collected DNA samples from 2,035 relatives but has not disclosed how many victims have been identified. China says it will notify embassies when foreign remains are identified but has not given a count of confirmed identities.
