The flood that came down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers on Wednesday morning took the pilgrim route with it, and the largest group of foreign nationals unaccounted for afterwards is Indian. How many is a different question depending on which of Thursday's reports you open.
The Times of India's piece at fifth on its most-read list says 288 Indians are reported missing. Its piece at seventh says at least 133. The Indian Express, tenth on the same list, gives the latest figure as 137. All three were on the Indian reading list at the same time. The Times of India explains why without resolving it: figures vary between agencies because of differences in data collection, verification and coordination.
The nationality tables do not line up either. One Times of India account lists 54 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons, 24 Canadians, 19 Malaysians and eight Koreans among the missing foreigners; the other lists 65 Americans, 53 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 35 Australians and 33 Britons. The Britons are the only figure the two share.
What the Indian coverage adds is the route. Many of the missing were on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, waiting near the Rasuwagadhi crossing on their way into Tibet or back out of it. Nearly 400 pilgrims were preparing to cross or moving through the region when the water came. The Indian Express reports that local authorities registered a record number on the Rasuwa route this year — more than 13,500 — because it is cheaper than the Humla crossing.
The official tallies underneath all this are Nepal Police's: 157 dead, and 579 people untraced, of whom 466 are foreigners from 28 countries and 113 are Nepali. Chinese authorities reported three dead and 265 missing in Gyirong county in Tibet. Thirty-three bodies were recovered at Chitwan, 150 kilometres downstream.
The state lost people too. Nepal's foreign minister told parliament that 29 police officers and 44 soldiers were untraced after floodwaters carried away their barracks in Rasuwa, along with customs officers and hydropower workers posted near the border. Preliminary government estimates put the damage at 19 bridges and about 40 kilometres of road, 13 hydropower projects and some 200 trucks. The worst-hit areas have been declared disaster zones for three months, with free treatment ordered for the injured.
Why it is on the board
Fifth on the Times of India's most-read list when we collected, with the same event at seventh and ninth and on the Indian Express at tenth, and a clip in the Indian video lens.
Four of the thirty Indian items are this flood, and they are not the same story told four times: the barrier lake and China's warning, the toll, a video of villagers running from the water, and an explainer on why so many Indians were on that particular road.
확인: The Times of India · The Indian Express