‘Please help us find her’: Families fly to Nepal in search for 33 missing British nationals

Pramod Poudel, who lives in Uckfield in East Sussex, told the BBC he has not heard from his family since the flood hit on Wednesday.

“It’s a very, very difficult time for me and for my family and my country at this moment, but obviously I have to go and see what’s happening there,” he said.

Poudel, who goes by the name Pedro, said he is travelling home to Nepal because “my family needs me”.

University of Kent graduate Nabhi Das from Streatham in South London has also been widely reported as missing Nepal.

Several of those missing had been making a pilgrimage to the sacred Hindu site of Mount Kailash, Nepalese tour operator The Trekkers’ Society said.

The operator said nine British nationals on one of its tours to the site were among those unaccounted for, including four males, aged 14, 50, 50 and 54, and five females, aged 40, 46, 50, 50 and 53.

Tour companies including Alpine Eco Trek, The Trekkers’ Society, Himalayan Glacier US, Kailash Journeys and Fishtail Tours have reported missing British nationals while on trips with the companies.

Alpine Eco Trek said it has not been able to establish contact with 12 Britons who were booked on a tour to Mount Kailash and were in the region when the flash floods struck.

The company’s travel logs which were shared with the Press Association, with a 13-year-old girl the youngest person missing.

Four of the firm’s Nepali tour guides are also missing.

The flood hit early on Wednesday in Rasuwa, just north of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

Preliminary information suggested it was caused by an earthquake, but the US Geological Survey said additional analysis indicated “the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide.”

It said a magnitude 5.2 seismic event caused by a “glacial collapse and debris flow” occurred near the border at 08:37 local time (03:52GMT) on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK has offered £5m to help the Nepalese government following the floods, saying it was a “very distressing and devastating situation”.

He had previously urged Britons in the region “to follow guidance from the local authorities and follow our travel advice”.

Speaking on Thursday, King Charles said he and the Queen were “heartbroken” and sent their “most profound sympathy” to those affected.