(TibetanReview.net, Sep06’26) – As families of pilgrims visiting Tibet from abroad who went missing after the devastating flash floods of ice, rock, and mud on Aug 26 morning demand answers on what was being done to find out about their fate or whereabouts, China has, for the first time, opened Gyirong (Tibetan: Kyirong) County in Tibet to a select group of foreign journalists, including the CNN and PTI, on Sep 6. However, it is a carefully arranged visit in an effort to show the rescue operations going on at the Gyirong Port, said edition.cnn.com Sep 6.
The visit to Kyirong County – which was jointly organized by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Council Information Office, with the itinerary planned by the officials to access this restricted area – was aimed only at showing the destruction caused by the floods and the relief and reconstruction work now under way, said the PTI report Sep 6.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said Sep 6 that the number of the dead in the Kyirong border area now stood at 43 as of Sep 6 at 6pm, with 519 missing. It did not say how many of either of these two figures include foreigners. It previously said the missing figure included 261 foreigners from 23 countries.
China claims transparency and cooperation with other countries, but diplomats report no clear plan for DNA identification or sharing of vital data like video or facial recognition, reported Reuters Sep 5.
The report said families accuse China of an information blackout, with no updates on missing persons or victim identification efforts, increasing their frustration and uncertainty.
“There is no update from China about what is happening at Ground Zero, what is the situation over there,” Tarun, brother of a missing pilgrim has said. His sister, Priyanka Choudhary, an Indian-born Finnish citizen, was returning from a Hindu pilgrimage in Tibet, and was at a border crossing with Nepal when a catastrophic mudslide hit, the report said.
Likewise, Naresh Goyal, brother of Neetu Goyal Tiwari, a 51-year-old British national, has said, “We are not getting anything from China, whether my sister is safe or alive or dead.”
The report said China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the accusations, the timeline for victim identification, or DNA collection protocols being used on the Tibetan side.
In Nepal, authorities, including the police, regularly share information on those missing and dead on social media, while search efforts have been accompanied by active DNA testing, the report noted.
In addition, China has not offered to provide video from its side of the land port, including facial-recognition images, that could be shared with families or used in identifying the dead, the report cited diplomats in contact with China’s foreign ministry as saying.
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Chinese authorities said they have been rebuilding roads to restore access to the cut-off border post and have also sent relief materials to Nepal. The journalists’ visit to Kyirong County was aimed at showing both the destruction caused by the floods and the relief and reconstruction work now under way, said the PTI report.
Likewise, the CNN report said, “Information about who was impacted here has been slow to emerge from the port, cutting a contrast with Nepal where there have been frequent updates on the numbers of rescued or confirmed dead.”
Chinese authorities have yet to publicly release a list of names of those who were at the port at the time or who are believed to be missing on this side of the border. That’s prompted questions about transparency – especially from families who are desperate for news of missing loved ones, the report said.
The report continued, “Beijing has defended its release of information from its remote disaster area as open and timely. Its invitation to a group of around a dozen reporters from international news outlets – including CNN – for Sunday’s carefully arranged visit to the area is part of an effort to show the rescue operations going on at the port.”
“We’re mainly focused on intensive search and rescue operations at this stage,” Zhang, who had been working at the site since access opened on Sep 2, has said.
“Our approach is to dig one layer, search that layer, and then clear it before moving on to the next. We’re digging very carefully, searching thoroughly and clearing the debris layer by layer to see if we can find any of the deceased.”
But there is still total lack of information on how the disaster hit the local area on the Tibetan side of the border on Aug 26 morning and its effects on people, their homes and families.
Human Rights Watch said some Chinese journalists had been instructed not to interview relatives of people killed or missing and to rely only on material provided by Xinhua, noted the timesofindia.com Sep 5.