Grieving his brother, Nepal tour operator for missing Singaporeans grateful families don't blame him

KATHMANDU — Outside, the whirl of the helicopter blades . Inside the cabin, there was deafening silence.

When Gopal Thapa, a 42-year-old managing director at Leaf Holidays Treks and Expedition, surveyed the devastation in flood-ravaged Rasuwa from above, he went pale.

There was mud and water as far as his eyes could see.

On Aug 26, water and slush came rushing down the mountains and swept through the Nepal-Tibet border , leaving at least 1,399 dead and more than 5,000 still missing .

Until the other day, Gopal's office in the tourist district of Kathmandu's Thamel Marg was buzzing with tourists.

But on Sept 16, when AsiaOne visited his Leaf Holidays Treks and Expedition office, the mood was desolate — relatives of staff members were milling around, anxious for information about their loved ones.

AsiaOne is in Nepal covering the aftermath of the Aug 26 disaster and Singapore's assistance in the recovery efforts .

The guests he could not bring home

Gopal recounted those harrowing days when lives and property were washed away.

These are not just numbers to him.

Fifty-five people on a trip to Mount Kailash with Leaf Holidays are missing, including four of nine Singaporeans , and nine of his staff.

The four Singaporeans associated with Leaf Holidays are: Rengarajan Prabu, 57; Shalinny Deavy, 40 ; Subramaniam Diraviam, 66; Rajesvaran Ayyavoo, 57.

Gopal, who is secretary of the Association of Kailash Tour Operators Nepal, said he raced to Tribhuvan International Airport upon receiving news of the disaster, paying US$1,600 (S$2,040) to hire a helicopter that would take him to ground zero.

Any hope that he might be able to find his guests and staff near what used to be Friendship Bridge, at the Nepal-Tibet border, was dashed as the helicopter reached the location.

The once-bustling villages and border checkpoint were gone. Instead, there was just mud.

"Muddy. Nothing there," Gopal recalled, describing the flight as the darkest moment of his life. "Clean sweep, no life, nothing there."

Facing families, including his own

To add to the trauma, he also lost his younger brother, Gokarna Thapa, to the deadly floods.

Gopal said his brother, who worked as a tour guide, was preparing to lead another group across the Himalayan passes towards Mount Kailash.

They had spoken a few hours before floods struck the area when Gokarna was at Friendship Pass. That was their final call.

But Gopal had no time to grieve, because he felt accountable for the other 54 people, from eight countries, now missing.

By the next day, he had sent letters to all embassies.

As Kathmandu became a gathering place for those looking for the missing, Gopal also had to face the families, including a friend of missing Singaporean trekker Rengarajan Prabu, who visited him thrice after arriving in Nepal.

"They didn't blame anyone. They just asked if there was any chance that those missing could still be alive, and to be updated if there were any developments," Gopal told AsiaOne.

Since then, many families have returned to their home countries.

But for Gopal and those in the tourism industry, the difficult next chapters are just beginning.

As families in Nepal struggle to come to terms with the possibility of losing their loved ones, those left behind still have to live on.

Gopal is providing the families of his nine missing employees with immediate out-of-pocket assistance, as claims for those with insurance are being worked out.

And he still has his brother's family to think about.

He told AsiaOne that his brother's wife and two young children, aged seven and 16 months, have moved into his home so that he can look after them.

He says he is overcome with guilt.

"What if I had stopped them? They definitely would still be alive," he said of his brother and his tour group.

Meanwhile, Nepalis are picking up the pieces.

For those whose homes once stood along the river corridor for generations, they now have to rebuild their homes from scratch.

And with livelihoods threatened, Gopal urged tourists not to shun Nepal at a time like this.

"Not all of Nepal is damaged," he pointed out. "Only Trishuli River area was affected. Nepal, as a country, is still safe for tourists to come."

Tourism is a major pillar of Nepal's economy, contributing about 7 to 8 per cent of its total GDP. This, in turn, creates jobs and development.

Asked by AsiaOne about his plans when life returns to normal, Gopal said: "I need to handle all of this."

Voice cracking, he added: "I can be strong, but we've lost our family, we've lost our business. And we've lost many people."

rauf.khan@asiaone.com yan.abdullah@asiaone.com

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加德满都——外面是直升机螺旋桨的呼啸声。机舱内，一片死寂。

42 岁的 Leaf Holidays Treks and Expedition 总经理 Gopal Thapa 从高处俯瞰被洪水肆虐的 Rasuwa 的惨状时，脸色变得苍白。

目之所及皆是泥水。

8 月 26 日，洪水和泥浆从山上倾泻而下，席卷了尼泊尔-西藏边境，造成至少 1399 人死亡，5000 多人失踪。

直到前几天，戈帕尔位于加德满都泰米尔旅游区的办公室里还挤满了游客。

但 9 月 16 日，当 AsiaOne 记者走访他的 Leaf Holidays Treks and Expedition 办公室时，气氛十分凄凉——员工的亲属们在周围徘徊，焦急地打听亲人的消息。

AsiaOne 正在尼泊尔报道 8 月 26 日灾难的后续情况以及新加坡在灾后重建工作中提供的援助。

他没能带回家的客人

戈帕尔回忆了那些可怕的日子，生命和财产被洪水冲走。

对他来说，这些不仅仅是数字。

参加 Leaf Holidays 组织的冈仁波齐山之旅的 55 人失踪，其中包括 9 名新加坡人中的 4 人和 9 名工作人员。

与 Leaf Holidays 有关的四名新加坡人是：Rengarajan Prabu，57 岁；沙林尼·迪维，40 岁；苏布拉马尼亚姆·迪拉维亚姆，66 岁；拉杰斯瓦兰·阿亚沃，57 岁。

尼泊尔凯拉什旅游运营商协会秘书戈帕尔表示，他一接到灾难的消息就立即赶往特里布万国际机场，支付了 1600 美元（2040 新元）租了一架直升机前往灾难现场。

当直升机抵达尼泊尔-西藏边境的友谊桥附近时，他原本希望在那里找到他的客人和工作人员的愿望彻底破灭了。

曾经熙熙攘攘的村庄和边境检查站都消失了，取而代之的是一片泥泞。

“一片泥泞。什么都没有，”戈帕尔回忆道，并将那次飞行描述为他一生中最黑暗的时刻。“一片狼藉，没有生命，什么都​​没有。”

面对家人，包括他自己的家人

雪上加霜的是，他的弟弟戈卡纳·塔帕也在这场致命的洪水中丧生。

戈帕尔说，他的兄弟是一名导游，正准备带领另一批游客穿越喜马拉雅山口前往冈仁波齐峰。

洪水袭击该地区前几个小时，戈卡纳还在友谊山口，他们通过电话。那是他们最后一次通话。

但戈帕尔没有时间悲伤，因为他觉得自己要对其他 54 名失踪者（来自 8 个国家）负责。

第二天，他就给所有大使馆都发了信。

随着加德满都成为寻找失踪者的聚集地，戈帕尔也不得不面对失踪者的家属，其中包括失踪的新加坡徒步旅行者伦加拉詹·普拉布的一位朋友，这位朋友在抵达尼泊尔后曾三次探望他。

“他们没有责怪任何人。他们只是询问失踪者是否还有生还的可能，并希望如果有任何进展，能够及时通知大家。”戈帕尔告诉亚洲新闻网。

此后，许多家庭返回了各自的祖国。

但对于戈帕尔和旅游业从业者来说，艰难的下一阶段才刚刚开始。

尼泊尔的家庭正努力接受失去亲人的可能性，而留下来的人仍然要继续生活下去。

戈帕尔正在为他九名失踪员工的家属提供紧急自费援助，同时正在处理有保险的员工的理赔事宜。

而且他还有哥哥一家要照顾。

他告诉亚洲新闻网，他哥哥的妻子和两个年幼的孩子（一个七岁，一个十六个月大）已经搬进了他家，以便他可以照顾他们。

他说他感到无比内疚。

“如果我阻止了他们呢？他们肯定还活着，”他谈到他的兄弟和他的旅行团时说道。

与此同时，尼泊尔人民正在收拾残局。

对于那些世代居住在河岸边的居民来说，他们现在不得不从头开始重建家园。

由于生计受到威胁，戈帕尔敦促游客不要在这种时候避开尼泊尔。

他指出：“并非尼泊尔全境都受到了破坏。只有特里苏里河地区受到影响。尼泊尔作为一个国家，对游客来说仍然是安全的。”

旅游业是尼泊尔经济的重要支柱，约占其国内生产总值的7%至8%。这反过来又创造了就业机会并促进了经济发展。

当被AsiaOne问及生活恢复正常后的计划时，戈帕尔说：“我需要处理所有这些事情。”

他声音哽咽地补充道：“我可以坚强，但我们失去了家人，失去了生意，也失去了很多人。”

rauf.khan@asiaone.com yan.abdullah@asiaone.com

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