Families of Missing B.C. Couples Desperate for Answers Days After Deadly Nepal Flood

Lucas Tremblay

8/31/20262 min read

Families of two Metro Vancouver couples are desperately searching for answers days after a massive flash flood tore through Nepal’s Timure region, leaving hundreds dead and thousands missing.

Port Moody couple Dhaval and Megha Shah and Coquitlam couple Sumit and Shubakshi Rawla are among those still unaccounted for following the Aug. 26 disaster.

At least 676 people have been killed in the flooding, while thousands more have been reported missing.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Saturday that one of 32 Canadians who had been unaccounted for in Nepal had since been located safely. The individual was not publicly identified.

Couple Was Preparing for Sacred Trek

Vikram Khosla said his cousin Shubakshi Rawla had travelled to the region for a trek to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, a sacred destination for Hindus, Buddhists and followers of other faiths.

The trip was intended as a 50th birthday gift to herself.

Khosla said Shubakshi and her husband, Sumit, had been preparing to leave for the trek when they spoke with a family member roughly an hour before the flood struck Wednesday morning.

No one has heard from anyone in their group since.

“We are very hopeful that they went up and they are stuck somewhere,” Khosla said.

The couple are Singaporean citizens who moved to Canada about four years ago and have two daughters, he added.

Hotel Where B.C. Couple Stayed Was Submerged

Another family is searching for Dhaval and Megha Shah of Port Moody.

Speaking from Mumbai, India, Dhaval’s brother Kheval Shah told Peazzi that the couple had been staying at Hotel Kailash near the border when the flood hit.

Their family last heard from them Wednesday morning while they were eating breakfast, approximately 15 minutes before the flooding began.

“That hotel is completely submerged, there is no hotel anymore,” Shah said.

The family is now trying to determine where the couple may have been when the flood reached the area.

“We just want to find out where they were when the water hit,” Shah said.

“Ultimately I feel that closure is very important.”

Dhaval and Megha have a 24-year-old daughter.

Families Frustrated by Lack of Information

Canada has announced $5 million in emergency humanitarian assistance for Nepal.

The funding is expected to support organizations including the Red Cross in providing assistance to people affected by the disaster.

But relatives of the missing couples say they also need more direct information about the search effort.

Shah said he wants the Canadian government to push Nepalese authorities for clearer details about efforts to locate those who remain missing.

Khosla expressed similar frustration over the limited flow of information.

He said Shubakshi’s brother and sister have travelled to Kathmandu and are attempting to reach the disaster zone themselves in search of answers.

Khosla said families need a centralized source where they can receive reliable, real-time updates about rescue and recovery operations.

Thousands Still Missing

As of Saturday afternoon, more than 3,700 people had been rescued following the catastrophic flooding.

Another 2,426 people remained missing.

For the families of the four Metro Vancouver residents, the search continues amid uncertainty over what happened during the critical minutes when floodwaters swept through the region.

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