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🇳🇵 Nepal /Disasters & Emergencies

Families search final phone signals for relatives missing in Nepal floods

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Families in central Nepal are asking police and telecom companies to trace the last mobile-tower connections of relatives missing after devastating floods.
  • Signals from the phones of Roshan Kumar Joshi and Chitragupta Bhatta gave relatives general directions and times, but experts warned the data cannot establish an exact location.
  • The information may help search teams determine whether missing people were near rivers or moving toward higher ground.

For families searching for relatives missing in Nepal’s floods, a final mobile-phone signal has become a fragile lead. Roshan Kumar Joshi’s relatives received data showing that his phone connected toward sector C of the Ramche tower in Rasuwa at 9:10 a.m. on Aug. 26.

One of the colleagues who reportedly talked to him for the last time said she heard him sending his colleagues outside, shouting, ‘Run, run quickly.’

— A relative of Roshan Kumar JoshiThe relative described Joshi’s last reported communication before he went missing.

Joshi, an environmental expert from Morang who worked on the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project under a Korean company, has been out of contact since last week’s floods in central Nepal. His relatives have searched social media for videos, photographs and maps, and questioned his colleagues about his last known movements.

“One of the colleagues who reportedly talked to him for the last time said she heard him sending his colleagues outside, shouting, ‘Run, run quickly,’” a relative said. “We have no idea what happened after that.” The family has now appealed online for authorities and search teams to investigate the direction indicated by the phone data.

We have no idea what happened after that.

— A relative of Roshan Kumar JoshiThe family explained the uncertainty surrounding Joshi’s whereabouts.

The family of Chitragupta Bhatta, who worked at Trishuli Hydropower Company Limited, is following a similar clue. His phone last connected at Neupane Chaur at 9:26 a.m., remaining active for more than 15 minutes after floodwaters hit the area. A telecom expert familiar with the location suggested he might have been inside a tunnel. “After learning about this location, we began to hope that perhaps he is inside a tunnel,” a family member said. “So many days have passed, and he was already somewhat frail. It is becoming increasingly difficult to hold on.”

After learning about this location, we began to hope that perhaps he is inside a tunnel.

— A family member of Chitragupta BhattaThe family reacted to the last known location of Bhatta’s phone.

Telecom experts say mobile data cannot pinpoint a handset’s exact position. But each tower typically divides coverage into three sectors, allowing operators to estimate whether a phone connected from the river side or the mountain side. With communications crippled across Rasuwa and Nuwakot, that limited information is offering families one of the few available ways to refine their searches.

So many days have passed, and he was already somewhat frail. It is becoming increasingly difficult to hold on.

— A family member of Chitragupta BhattaThe family described the strain of waiting for news.
About this summary

Originally published by Kathmandu Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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