Families Accuse Beijing of Information Blackout on 261 Foreigners Missing in Tibet Mudslide

Families of foreign nationals missing in Tibet are expressing growing frustration with Chinese authorities over what they describe as an information blackout, 10 days after a catastrophic mudslide devastated a border crossing with Nepal. A total of 261 foreign nationals are among the missing on the Tibetan side of the border following the disaster.

The mudslide killed more than 1,300 people and left over 5,600 missing across both Tibet and Nepal. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday that in Tibet, at least 31 people are confirmed dead and a total of 531 remain missing.

Frustration Mounts Over Lack of Information

Relatives of the missing are struggling to get updates from Chinese officials, compounding their distress. "There is no information on the China side," said Tarun Choudhary, whose sister, Indian-born Finnish citizen Priyanka Choudhary, has been missing since the disaster. "There is no update from China about what is happening at Ground Zero."

This sentiment was echoed by Naresh Goyal, whose sister, 51-year-old British national Neetu Goyal Tiwari, is also missing. "We are not getting anything from China, whether my sister is safe or alive or dead," he stated. Goyal noted that UK police had collected a DNA sample from his niece to provide to Chinese authorities, but the family has received little information since.

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Beijing's Official Response

China's foreign ministry has previously stated that its release of information has been "transparent and timely." Officials held a briefing for embassies from 23 countries with missing citizens and have sent a team of DNA identification experts to Nepal, which suffered the majority of the devastation.

However, diplomats who attended the briefing in Beijing told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Chinese officials shared no specific details on how they planned to conduct DNA identification of victims on their side of the border. They also noted that China has not offered to share potentially crucial evidence, such as facial-recognition images from the land port, which could aid in identifying the deceased.

In contrast, authorities in Nepal have been regularly sharing information on social media and are conducting active DNA testing as part of their search and recovery efforts.