B.C. couple missing after catastrophic flash flooding and ice collapse on Nepal-Tibet border

A British Columbia couple is missing following catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides along the Nepal-Tibet border, with their family desperately seeking assistance from the Canadian government.

Dhaval and Megha Shah were on a tour in the Timure region when ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering the disaster. The floods occurred in a border area of Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of China, killing at least 390 people and leaving more than 1,400 missing as of Thursday evening. Many of the missing were foreigners in the area for trekking, guided tours, or pilgrimage to a sacred Hindu site.

Nikita Shah told media that her cousin Dhaval and his wife Megha were known to be at the Hotel Kailash, where they had breakfast. "And then from different information we gather, it's either there or en route on a jeep to the checkpoint, where they would then cross the border," Shah said. The Hotel Kailash is about 1.5 kilometres from the checkpoint. The tour company lost contact with anyone at the location around 8:30 that morning.

Shah said she has exhausted every avenue to find news and is frustrated with Canadian government responses. "We've obviously contacted them, called them, we always get the generic response: we don't know anything, we'll let you know when we have some more information, and while it's easy to say that, some real concrete information would be really helpful," she said.

The number of Canadians missing in Nepal and the Tibet region has climbed to 30 from 25 on Wednesday, according to the latest update from the federal government. Dhaval is a Navy captain, and Shah said she is hoping he was able to use his training to get himself and his wife to safety. "We love you guys and we hope you're okay and we're going to pray for some miracle and we are just going to keep working on it," Shah said.