Bay Area man and 76 others go missing on pilgrimage to Tibet

On Aug. 26, a catastrophic flash flood swept through the Tibet-Nepal border, washing away entire neighborhoods, destroying homes and bridges and taking out communication lines in the region. Around 2,000 people are reportedly missing.

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Among the roughly 90 Americans reported missing so far is 48-year-old Prabath Sajeepa, a Bay Area resident who works at Everpure, according to the company. 

“We are deeply concerned for the safety of our colleague, Prabhath Sajeepa, who remains uncontactable following severe flash floods and mudslides in the Nepal-Tibet border region,” Everpure spokesperson Tricia Stream told SFGATE in an email. “We are doing everything within our power to support efforts to establish contact and locate him. Our team is working continuously with local authorities, emergency services, and diplomatic officials to support search and rescue operations.”

Sajeepa is a volunteer with the Isha Foundation, according to the BBC. A group of around 77 members was on a two-week pilgrimage to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet, said Sadhguru, the leader of the Isha Foundation. The group was inside an immigration building in Nepal when the flood hit; they have not been able to reach any of the group members since.

“Literally the entire group was there in the building, so this is a terrible and an extraordinary event, which unfortunately has turned out this way,” Sadhguru said.

Kavya Koulagi Jayatheertha, Sajeepa’s niece, told the BBC that their family is “hoping for good news.” 

Praneeth Kumar, Sajeepa’s brother, has called on the public to share any information that could help locate his brother.

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“They were returning back on [the] 26th, and they were checking into a … Nepal immigration center, and this is what happened. That’s what we know. And we were not able to contact, connect him afterwards,” Kumar told KNTV-TV.

On Thursday, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker posted on X that the U.S. has sent $500,000 in aid to the area and “is coordinating with local authorities on efforts to assist U.S. nationals.”

“The United States stands with the people of Nepal during this difficult time and will continue to support relief and recovery efforts,” Hooker wrote. 

The flood is believed to be caused by a piece of ice from one of the region’s glaciers that broke off and sent massive waves rushing into the valley. Climate change is believed to be a factor in the glacial break.

The world will see “more and more events like this,” Alton Byers, a faculty research scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, told NPR. “Things are getting warmer.”