Mumbai-based mountaineer and medical practitioner Dr Milind P Chitlay is among those who remain uncontactable after catastrophic flooding devastated areas along the Nepal-Tibet border. The Nepal flash floods struck on August 26, sending a wall of ice, rock, mud and water through mountain settlements, roads and pilgrimage routes. Chitlay's associates and members of Mumbai's trekking community say they have been unable to contact him or confirm his safety.

Chitlay is the co-founder of Hills and Trails and is well known among Mumbai trekkers and trekking groups from Pune. His disappearance has brought the impact of a disaster hundreds of kilometres away directly into Maharashtra's trekking community.

Who is Dr Milind P Chitlay?

Chitlay is an experienced mountaineer as well as a medical practitioner who has spent years organising and leading Himalayan expeditions. Fellow trekkers told Hindustan Times that he had travelled to Nepal around 18 to 19 times and had accompanied groups from Mumbai and Pune through the country's mountain terrain. Despite his familiarity with the region, there has been no confirmed information about his whereabouts since the disaster struck.

Members of the trekking community have stressed that communication networks in affected parts of Nepal remain badly disrupted. One associate said another trekking group had been contacted and found safe, but no similar confirmation had yet come regarding Chitlay. For Mumbai trekkers familiar with Hills and Trails, the uncertainty surrounding a mountaineer with extensive Nepal experience has made the unfolding crisis particularly personal.

Nepal flash floods: What happened at the Nepal-Tibet border?

The disaster began on August 26 after a huge mass of glacial ice, rock and debris collapsed in the Himalayan region near the Nepal-China border. Reuters reported that the avalanche entered a mountain river and transformed into a high-speed debris flow, sweeping through valleys and settlements on both sides of the border. A Chinese government geologist said the debris was travelling at about 50 metres per second and continued for more than 20 kilometres. Initial reports had raised the possibility that an earthquake caused the disaster. However, the US Geological Survey later said the seismic signal initially interpreted as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake was actually generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice itself.

The floods badly affected Nepal's Rasuwa and Trishuli regions and the route towards Tibet's Gyirong border crossing. The corridor is used by tourists, trekkers and pilgrims travelling towards Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar.

Missing-person numbers continue to change

The scale of the nepal floods has made it difficult for authorities to produce a single stable figure for those missing. By August 27, Reuters reported that more than 1,000 people remained missing across Nepal and neighbouring Tibet. Local media put the death toll at 359, although authorities warned that the full scale of the disaster was still unclear.

The figures for Indian nationals have also changed sharply as rescuers establish contact with previously unreachable groups.

India's foreign ministry told Reuters that at least 288 Indian nationals were missing in Nepal, while around 200 Indians remained stranded in China. Nepalese rescuers had meanwhile located around 100 Indian visitors who had earlier been considered missing. That is why early figures of 105 or 133 Indians should be read as preliminary counts rather than the current definitive total. Many of those affected were travelling on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route. Reuters reported that Indians represented the largest group of foreign nationals still unaccounted for in Nepal.

Maharashtra government opens control room

The Maharashtra government has now begun formally coordinating assistance for people from the state who are stranded or uncontactable in Nepal. The Indian Express reported on August 27 that Maharashtra's disaster management department had identified around 80 tourists from the state as stranded in Nepal, including members of a group from Pune.

Disaster Management Minister Girish Mahajan said officials had established contact with four people from Jalgaon. Those travellers told authorities that more than 37 others travelling with them were also safe. Officials were still attempting to contact the remaining people.

The Maharashtra government has also set up a 24-hour control room and asked families with relatives stranded in Nepal to register their information with the State Disaster Management Authority. Families can contact the state toll-free helpline 1070 or the control room at +91-9321587143. Authorities have asked relatives to provide details such as the traveller's name, phone number, hotel or last-known location, travel itinerary and family contact information. The information collected by the state is being forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs so that Indian authorities can coordinate with Nepal.

Rescue teams face difficult terrain

Helicopters are being used to search isolated areas and deliver tents, food and emergency supplies because several roads and bridges are impassable. Reuters reported that entire villages had been destroyed and that authorities were recovering bodies far downstream from the worst-hit areas. Rescue operations are also facing another potential danger from a dammed lake upstream in Tibet that authorities fear could breach.

Heavy damage to roads and communication networks is also one reason the number of people classified as missing, stranded or simply out of contact continues to fluctuate. For families following the nepal floods, a change in those numbers can therefore mean rescuers have established contact with a group rather than physically rescued everyone listed.

What happens next in the search for Chitlay?

For now, there is no confirmed public update establishing the safety or location of Dr Milind P Chitlay. That distinction matters. Being unable to contact someone in a disaster zone does not by itself establish what happened to them, particularly when telecommunications infrastructure has failed. Nepalese authorities, Indian officials and state governments are continuing to reconcile passenger lists, pilgrimage groups and information submitted by families while rescuers search the affected valleys. As the Nepal flash floods rescue operation continues, Chitlay's family, associates and the wider trekking community are waiting for verified information rather than speculation.

Until authorities or his family confirm otherwise, Dr Milind P Chitlay should be described as missing or uncontactable — not presumed dead or presumed safe.