The millionaire family from Surrey including a former Mrs India UK who are missing in Nepal following flash flood… as hunt for 33 British tourists continues

A millionaire family-of-four from Surrey including a former Mrs India UK are among the missing Britons in Nepal following a devastating flash flood this week. 

Days on from the initial disaster, rescuers are still scouring the mud and debris left by the flood along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet.

Police in Nepal said on Friday morning that the country’s death toll had risen to 469 from 390 a day earlier. China had not updated its report of three deaths in Tibet. More than 1,500 people are missing overall.

Among them are ex-banker and beauty pageant winner Surabhi Sahu, 44, her businessman husband Santosh, 46, their son Spandan, 18, and daughter Syna, 13, who were on an adventure trek across the Nepal-China border. 

Mr and Mrs Sahu ran a successful technology company in London together before he set up a thriving pharmaceutical business. The family live in a £1.3million six-bedroom house in Cobham, Surrey.

They travelled to India last week and then on to the Nepalese-Tibetan trek. They were due to return in ten days before the start of the new school year.

A poignant final photograph of them with their group – mostly Britons – on the Alpine Eco Tours trip shows them happy and laughing as they pose by their bus amid the stunning peaks of the Himalayas.

The group was last heard from as they crossed the frontier from Nepal into Tibet – at the exact moment on Wednesday that a horrifying 600ft torrent of ice, mud and rocks engulfed the Giyrong border crossing, with CCTV footage showing people running for their lives.

The organisers of the tour group say they have been frantically trying to reach them ever since. There are hopes the tourists are alive and waiting to be rescued, but phone lines are down and military are struggling to reach the mountainous area.

The Sahu family were well-travelled and on a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a religious site for Hindus and Buddhists in Tibet.

Mrs Sahu is a high-flying chemistry graduate from Mumbai who became a banker before moving to Ireland to work for Dell Computers. 

Her husband Santosh is an Irish citizen, and the family moved to Surrey where they became beacons of their community.

In 2018, Mrs Sahu won the Mrs India UK beauty contest – after being encouraged to enter it by her family – which she described as ‘a dream come true’. 

She added it showcased ‘the best in women… not just in respect of physical beauty but in the many other capacities in which they are not always acknowledged or appreciated’.

As well as her successful business career, Mrs Sahu is an avid reader who promotes literature to her legion of Instagram followers. She has posted photos of herself visiting favourite spots of England, including the Cotswolds.

Her former banker husband Santosh has gone from strength to strength and is the founder and chief executive of Charac, a digital platform helping pharmacies improve deliveries to patients.

Their son Spandan is due to start a law degree at Durham University.

Neighbours in Cobham spoke of their shock at hearing the news the family are missing, describing them as popular and well-loved members of the community.

Jen Sutton told the Daily Mail: ‘They’re a wonderful family and Surabhi, who we call Sue, is a beautiful and caring woman.

‘She helps to care for me and is an absolutely delightful and charming person. We’re devastated by this news and are praying that they’ll be ok.’

The family purchased their home seven years ago after moving to the UK from Ireland. 

Santosh and Surabhi were both born in India and studied at prestigious universities in the country.

Ms Sutton added: ‘They travel to India regularly and had gone on short trip to visit Santosh’s dad who’s not been well. Nepal was just a little adventure for them before returning home.

‘They told me that they planned to get home in time for Syna’s school. I hope to god that they’re found and come home.’

Rescuers continue to search for the thousands still missing, as Nepali and Chinese authorities warned of further flooding from a lake that formed upstream after Wednesday’s disaster and was already overflowing. They urged people in potentially affected areas to move to safer ground.

The Sahus aren’t the only family missing following the flood.  

Deepesh Patel told the Press Association that his parents Bipin Patel, 66, and Mala Patel, 60, from Coventry, were missing after flying to Nepal on August 22 to make a pilgrimage to the sacred Hindu site of Mount Kailash.

He said the family last heard from the couple, who run a tutoring business, on Tuesday, and their last known location was in the Gyirong area of the Nepal-China border.

His brother Anant Patel, told Sky News he was ‘shocked’ at the lack of information about their whereabouts.

Anant Patel said: ‘I think from our perspective, we’re not just shocked that our parents appear to be missing, but also… the ongoing lack of certainty is causing further distress.’ 

A former grammar school pupil and her mother who went on a pilgrimage to Nepal have been confirmed as missing after a flood.

Nelly Chhetri, 18, and her mother Yashika Basnet, 56, an NHS worker, had gone on the trip as part of a tour group, and have not been heard from since.

Nepalese authorities have declared them missing, and their worried family said they have received no contact from the UK Foreign Office.

Nelly, an ‘ambitious’ former pupil of the Invicta Grammar School for girls, in Maidstone, Kent, hopes to go to university next year, her cousin Nickie Chhetri told the Daily Mail.

She has just completed a sixth-form course in health and social care at Uxbridge College, in London.

‘Nelly is so caring, she loves everyone around her. She enjoys listening to music and spending lots of time with close friends,’ Nickie added.

‘Her mother is caring too, and very hardworking. All we can do now is wait for updates.’

Among those still missing is Samitra Sapkota, the 25-year-old wife of British man Pramod Poudel. 

Poudel, a 35-year-old Briton who runs a Nepalese street food company in Sussex, told The Times on Thursday evening that he had spoken to his wife the day of the flood and that everything was fine: ‘I was talking to my wife at 4.30am on Wednesday and everything was absolutely fine.

‘After 6am I phoned her again and of course I couldn’t get through … I initially thought it was only a small flood so I didn’t think anything of it.’

She was living in Sole village in the Nuwakot district of Nepal, which has been devastated by the flood. 

The couple have been married for just four months. He met Samitra in Croatia. 

Also missing are his mother Tulisa, brother Pradip and uncle Madav. His father Purusottam has been found alive.

Before he got on a plane to head east last night, Mr Poudel said: ‘I have seen pictures of where my hometown used to be, where my family used to live – my mum, my dad, my brother, my wife…there’s nothing there.

‘The bridges are broken so no one can get there.’  

Nepal police say water dam on the Tibet side has burst again. All security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public deployed in rescue and relief efforts were told to remain on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary. 

Sunil Amin, from Croydon, described the ‘horrible, horrible feeling’ of repeatedly trying to phone his wife, Hema Amin, 63, who was on a pilgrimage with Alpine Eco trek from Nepal to Tibet with her sister.

‘I keep trying to call her. I’ve been trying, trying, trying,’ he said. ‘It just rings out or doesn’t get through. I’m devastated.’

Sarada Simkhada, 55, was also on a pilgrimage, following in the footsteps of thousands of other Hindus up Mount Kailash. 

The mountain is a sacred site for both Hindus and Buddhists, and is believed to be the cosmic home of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. 

Sarada, a senior nurse who lives in Dartford, had travelled to Nepal on Saturday before she joined other pilgrims. 

Her childhood friend Rajendra Pudasaini said she is known for taking part in the community and always ‘working incredibly hard’ at Darent Valley Hospital. 

Sarada trained as a nurse in Kathmandu, before moving to London. Her relatives were last in contact with her when she was staying at the Kailash Hotel in Timure on the Nepal-China border, where she was waiting for Chinese customs officers to approve her visa. 

Roshan Panday, owner of Fishtail Tours and Travels Group, had a tour group of 27 including Briton Leena Bector, 53, from Slough, and he said ‘no one is answering their phones’.

He said they had sent a video just nine minutes before the disaster struck, adding: ‘Absolutely everything’s under the mud. We tried calling the drivers. We tried calling the guides. We tried calling them all, but no one was answering.’

Ms Bector’s husband, Bhupesh Bector, told The Times he was frantically checking his iPhone to check her location but it had not changed for more than seven hours. 

He flew out last night, saying: ‘I know that she’s in Nepal for sure, so even if they find her today or tomorrow, I need to be there.’ 

Another missing Briton is Nabhi Das, from Streatham in south London, family members confirmed. The University of Kent graduate, originally from Kenya and thought to work in finance, has not been heard from.  

The flooding was likely caused by a huge chunk of a glacier that broke off and temporarily dammed a river, according to preliminary investigations by scientists. 

That may have led to the backed-up water surging downstream with enormous force a few hours later, they suggested.

Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood.

The US Geological Survey on Wednesday reported a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream with catastrophic impact on communities.

It said its determination was based on data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery.

Scientists said it is too early to draw a direct connection between global warming and Wednesday’s catastrophe.

However, they said that as Earth’s temperature rises because of human activities such as burning oil, gas and coal, the chances of such disasters increase, especially in the Himalayan mountains, which are warming considerably faster than many other parts of the world.