Family of Virginia man last heard from at Nepal-Tibet border just before flood hit desperate for info
Anil Goel was among about 10 U.S. nationals at the Rasuwagadhi immigration checkpoint on Nepal's border with Tibet Wednesday morning just before a torrent of mud and floodwater swept away the facility and everything around it.
On Friday, the 67-year-old Northern Virginia resident and former World Bank employee's family was still desperate for information on his whereabouts, as the death toll from the devastating floods and mudslides along the Nepal-Tibet border climbed, and at least 1,400 people remained missing.
"We have a photo of our father with his group from the border crossing," Anurag Goel, Anil Goel's son, who works as an engineer in Boston, told CBS News.
The photo sent by Anil doesn't actually show him, but rather at least seven members of the trekking group he was with, posing in front of the immigration office sign. His son believes he may have taken the picture.
Anurag said the family got confirmation that his father's visa was approved at the checkpoint at 8:35 a.m. local time.
Just 35 minutes later, all of the buildings in the area were swept away or covered by a wall of mud and water unleashed by the collapse of a distant rock ledge and the vast Himalayan glacier it had supported.
Goel was on his way to Mount Kailash, about to cross the border from Nepal for a pilgrimage to the sacred mountain in Tibet, when the photograph was taken, his son said.
"We are not sure if they crossed into Tibet," Goel's daughter Manvi Goel told CBS News. "It's possible they did, but my hunch is he was still on the Nepal side when the calamity struck."
Anil Goel is a seasoned trekker and had visited Nepal 10 times previously for hiking expeditions, having embraced the hobby in retirement.
Anurag told CBS News that when he last spoke to his father, he was "very excited, in his happy place."
"For him, it was both — a hiking expedition and a religious pilgrimage to Mount Kailash," Anurag said.
He said his father fell in love with hiking years ago. He traveled with his wife to the Mount Everest base camp in 2015, and before that he climbed Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro.
But "the Nepal region had become his favorite place in the world," daughter Manvi, who lives in California, told CBS News. "Over the years he did many treks. This was his second trek this year. He wanted to take his dear friends from Virginia to understand and explore the region."
Anil documented his treks on YouTube, hoping to attract more people to the region he loved.
On this visit, he was accompanied by 10 other Americans and two Nepali nationals. They were traveling with the Kathmandu-based adventure trekking company Classic Vacations.
Rescue efforts were still ramping up Friday when a swollen glacial lake in the mountains upstream from the affected area, dammed up by debris and filling with meltwater, raised concerns of a possible new inundation looming.
China's state television network said the flood risks from the lake were "manageable," but it was another piece of deeply worrying news for thousands of families like Goel's waiting for word of loved ones.
"We hope for good news but understand the severity of the situation," Anurag Goel told CBS News. "We also want to understand the nature of the rescue work … and raise awareness so that more foreign governments and agencies are able to help."
Authorities said about 1,500 people were still missing on both sides of the border Friday, including as many as 540 foreign nationals from 31 countries. The U.S. State Department said as many as 90 Americans could have been impacted.
Local media in Nepal said the number of missing could be as high as 12,000, but there was no confirmation of that figure from authorities.
Nepal's Foreign Ministry said Friday that it did not need foreign assistance with search and rescue operations, despite offers of help from several countries.
