Washington, Sep 4: Families of Americans missing after devastating floods in Nepal have appealed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for an expanded rescue operation, asking Washington to provide helicopters, drones, satellite imagery and search teams to help locate their relatives. Those listed include people from the United States, Australia, Canada, Britain, Singapore, France and South Africa. Many of the names in the list are of Indian origin.

The families said the US State Department had told them that 90 Americans remained unaccounted for and five had been rescued after flash floods swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa district on August 26.

Many of the missing were travelling to or from Mount Kailash, the sacred pilgrimage site in Tibet, along a route through Nepal that crosses the Chinese border at Gyirong.

“We are Americans, and we are asking our government to rescue our family members now,” the families said in an August 29 letter to Rubio.

The letter was signed by relatives and friends of 57 missing people — 31 Americans and 26 people of other nationalities.

The families said their relatives had been travelling with pilgrims, guides and workers from India and several other countries when floods struck the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli valleys.

The families thanked the US Embassy in Kathmandu and Nepali soldiers and pilots involved in rescue operations but said the scale of the American response was inadequate.

“We do not doubt the good faith of the people working on this,” they wrote.

“We are telling you that the urgency of the response has not matched what 90 missing Americans require.”

The families asked Washington to formally offer Nepal US military helicopters capable of operating at high altitude, together with crews, fuel and ground support.

They also sought drones equipped with thermal and infrared cameras, technology to detect people trapped beneath debris, equipment to locate mobile phones and temporary cellular coverage over the affected valley.

Another request calls for US satellite surveillance of the corridor from Rasuwagadhi to Trishuli Bazar and Devighat, including radar imagery capable of seeing through cloud cover.

The families asked the United States to move an urban search-and-rescue team to Kathmandu so it could be deployed immediately if Nepal accepted the assistance.

They also sought greater consular support, including a liaison for each affected family, US consular officers at hospitals receiving survivors and officers closer to the rescue operation in Rasuwa.

Some missing travellers were last known to be on the Gyirong side of the Nepal-China border, according to the letter.

The families therefore asked Washington to seek consular access and information from China and coordinate rescue efforts with other governments.

“Coordinate with Australia, the United Kingdom, India, and Singapore, whose people were in the same tour groups as our relatives,” the letter said.

The American citizens listed as missing include residents of Illinois, Virginia, Texas, New York, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Tennessee and Ohio.

New Delhi, Sep 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday congratulated Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on becoming the longest serving Prime Minister in the European nation’s postwar history and wished her continued success in the years ahead.

PM Modi, while extending greetings on Meloni’s feat, appreciated her government’s efforts in strengthening the Special Strategic Partnership between the two nations. He expressed readiness to continue close cooperation to build a prosperous future for the people of the two nations.

In a post on X, PM Modi said, “Congratulations to my friend Prime Minister Meloni on becoming the longest continuously serving Prime Minister in Italy’s postwar history. This milestone is a reflection of the trust and confidence of the Italian people in her leadership.”

“Her friendship has also been instrumental in strengthening the India-Italy Special Strategic Partnership and I look forward to continuing our close cooperation to build a prosperous future for the people of our countries. My best wishes for her continued success in the years ahead,” he added.

Notably, Giorgia Meloni-led government became the longest-serving government in the postwar history of the Italian Republic, after surpassing the tenure of former PM Silvio Berlusconi.

Meloni assumed office as Italy’s first woman Prime Minister on October 22, 2022, and her government on Friday reached 1,413 days in office.

Earlier in July, Meloni had congratulated PM Modi on becoming India’s longest-serving elected PM and expressed readiness to work with him in creating new opportunities for the people of the two nations.

Extending wishes to PM Modi, Meloni, in a post on X, wrote, “Congratulations to Narendra Modi who today becomes the longest-serving elected Prime Minister in the history of India. It has been a pleasure to meet again in Rome in recent weeks and to launch together a Special Strategic Partnership that looks to the future to create new opportunities for our Nations and our peoples.”

In May, PM Modi made a two-day official visit to Italy, where he held talks with both Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella.

During their meeting, PM Modi and Meloni decided to elevate bilateral ties to the level of a Special Strategic Partnership. The two leaders welcomed the “strong momentum” of high-level exchanges and agreed to hold annual meetings of leaders, including on the sidelines of multilateral events, as well as regular ministerial and institutional-level meetings.

PM Modi had also presented a light-hearted and unique gift — a “Melody” toffee packet– to Meloni, bringing back the widely popular “#Melodi” moment that has often gone viral on social media. The informal exchange, marked by laughter between the two leaders, was later shared by the Italian PM on Instagram, where she also spoke about the gesture and the gift received from the Indian Prime Minister.

Sharing the video of the moment, Meloni said, “Prime Minister Modi brought us a gift — a very, very good toffee — Melody”. “Thank you for the gift.”

The “Melodi” phenomenon — a portmanteau combining the names of Prime Ministers Modi and Meloni — became a recurring viral trend online, reflecting the visible personal rapport and friendly exchanges between the two leaders during various international engagements.

Kathmandu, Sep 4: Rescuers on Friday pulled out two men alive from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project, which was affected by last week’s deadly floods, raising hopes that others could still be trapped inside.

Nine days after a deadly flash flood tore through the Trishuli River corridor, sweeping away everything in its path and causing extensive damage to dozens of hydropower projects, two men employed at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project were rescued alive.

The Secretariat of the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation confirmed that Kabir Maharjan, 45, a supervisor for the Hydropower Automation Project of Upper Trishuli 3A from Kathmandu, and Sanjaya Sah, 30, a foreman from Saptari district, were rescued alive.

“They are being taken to hospital in Kathmandu after being airlifted,” the secretariat said.

Sah was rescued earlier on Friday, followed by Maharjan, according to the latest information received from the rescue operation.

The rescue followed an earlier breakthrough in which rescuers heard voices from inside the tunnel and established communication with people believed to be trapped there.

The Nepal Army and Armed Police Force intensified efforts to reach them after the voices were heard.

According to local media reports, the rescue team called out to the trapped workers, asking them not to panic, and sustained efforts eventually paid off.

The flash flood on August 26 swept through the Trishuli River valley, killing at least 1,252 people, while 5,053 people remained missing as of Thursday evening, according to the latest situation report released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

The floods also damaged several hydropower projects, including the 60 MW Upper Trishuli 3A Project, as well as key road links. Search teams have since been working in difficult conditions to locate people who may have been trapped inside tunnels and other structures.

According to the minister’s secretariat, a joint team of the Nepal Army and Armed Police Force, including Chinese experts, has been deployed at the site. The team has been using five excavators, compressors and breakers, while tunnel drilling and holing work has been intensified to clear access to the tunnel.

A large rock was located inside the tunnel, and blasting work was carried out to remove the obstruction and facilitate further search and rescue efforts.

The Trishuli 3A hydropower plant was affected by the devastating floods in the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi river systems, which caused extensive damage to infrastructure in the region.

The Independent Power Producers’ Association, an association of private-sector power developers, said on Thursday evening that as many as 945 people working in 11 hydropower projects affected by the floods remained out of contact.