Indian Father and Daughter Found Buried in Snow After Three Weeks Missing in Nepal's Manang District

The recovery operation for the bodies at the site is expected to conclude today.

Kathmandu:

Security officials have confirmed that the bodies of two Indian tourists who had been missing since October 20 have been recovered from Nepal's Manang district.

Following an extensive search effort lasting several weeks, security forces located the bodies of the Indian tourists buried beneath snow after their disappearance nearly three weeks ago.

The Armed Police Force (APF) identified the victims as 52-year-old Jignesh Kumar Lallubhai Patel and his 17-year-old daughter, Priyansa Kumari Patel.

APF DSP Shailendra Thapa stated, "The rescue team had been searching for the missing duo for weeks. On November 9, a mountain rescue team led by APF Deputy Superintendent Hira Bahadur GC discovered their bodies approximately 100 meters above the monastery, buried under snow."

According to security personnel, the father and daughter had departed from Gyalzen Hotel in Ngisyang Rural Municipality-4 on October 20, informing staff they were visiting Maleripa Monastery in Ward No. 5. They had not been heard from since.

After contact was lost, the hotel alerted the APF's Mountain Rescue Training Center in Manang, which initiated search operations.

Thapa added that the process of retrieving the bodies from the location is expected to be completed by tomorrow.

Nepal experienced a severe snowstorm in October. Security forces rescued over 1,500 stranded tourists from the Manang district alone following heavy snowfall and harsh weather conditions.

The father-daughter pair went missing before Cyclone Montha's effects reached Nepal's Himalayan region. However, another weather system had already brought substantial snowfall to high-elevation areas in October.

Due to adverse weather conditions, all trekking routes in Nepal were closed for over a week, with numerous tourist destinations reporting blockages.