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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Due to the widespread flooding and a powerful landslide in Nepal, communication has been lost with Ukrainians who were in the disaster area. preliminarily, there are about 56 citizens of Ukraine, among whom are participants in tourist and pilgrimage groups. Among those currently being searched for is Ukrainian Stas Arsonov. On the first day of the expedition, he posted a video in which he spoke about his trip to Mount Kailash with a group of other Ukrainians. After that, contact with him was lost. This is reported in the segment of “Breakfast with 1+1.”
According to available information, among the missing are two groups of Ukrainians. One of them could number about 50 people. Contact has also been lost with one Ukrainian woman.
A story that could have ended very differently was shared by dentist Sergei Prozheiko. Because his surname appeared in documents for obtaining a visa, he ended up on the lists of people being searched after the disaster.
Sergei planned to travel to Nepal and Tibet with a group of Ukrainians. He had been preparing for the trip for about a month, but shortly before applying for a visa he decided to cancel the trip.
According to him, this decision was primarily influenced by his wife. The man was afraid that after the trip he might become too absorbed in psychological retreats.
When organizers asked him why he wasn’t going, Sergei replied: “I’m afraid I won’t be able to climb out.” Later this phrase took on a completely different meaning for him.
Because his data remained in the documents, Prozheiko had to appeal to the Nepali police with a letter to have himself removed from the lists of people being searched.
According to preliminary data, among the 56 Ukrainians with whom contact was lost, the majority were tourists. A significant portion of the missing could have been in groups that traveled to Nepal and Tibet for retreats and pilgrimage trips.
One of the large groups was heading to a retreat led by Irina Blonska. The exact number of its participants is currently unknown. According to relatives of the missing, the group could have included from 20 to 30 people.
On social media, Blonska describes herself as a psychologist, a practitioner of family constellations, organizer of retreats and spiritual journeys. She is a citizen of Kazakhstan, but has long conducted her practices in Kiev. The journey along the Nepal - Tibet - Kailash route was planned for 11–26 August.
At the end of the journey, the group was near the Nepal-Tibet border. According to Olena Fedorova, who joined the search for the missing, the tourists were on the second floor of the border checkpoint “Timur.” It is there that the disaster could have struck them.
Some participants were saved due to visa issues. Investor and coach Anna Kovalenko was also a participant in this journey. She traveled most of the route with the group but did not reach the disaster area. The reason was a problem with documents — she and two other men were denied a visa allowing them to continue the journey to Tibet. As a result, they went to Everest, while the main group continued to Tibet.
According to Kovalenko, during the journey tourists already faced difficult weather conditions and road problems. With heavy rainfall, roads were washed away, and participants of the expedition had to literally place stones under the wheels of buses to continue moving. After that Anna and two other men waited for the rest of the group at a hotel in Kathmandu.
However, contact with the tourists was lost when they were returning from Tibet to Nepal and were supposed to pass the border checkpoint. It was roughly at that time that the massive natural disaster struck the area. A powerful flow of water mixed with stones, earth, and debris swept over the border complex.
The disaster destroyed roads, houses, and other structures. According to eyewitnesses, water and landslides spread for tens of kilometers around the site of the tragedy.
At present, the exact fate of the Ukrainians who were in the disaster area remains unknown. Searches continue, and relatives are trying to establish contact with their loved ones. The situation is complicated by the fact that in the mountainous regions of Nepal, after the flood, roads and infrastructure are damaged, and contact with some areas remains unstable.
As of Monday, 31 August, among the dead or injured due to the disaster in Nepal and Tibet, no Ukrainian citizens have been recorded. At the same time, searches for 56 Ukrainians who are in the disaster zone continue.
29 August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the number of missing Ukrainians in Nepal rose to 64 people.
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