With tears in his eyes, Spiritual leader and Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru on Thursday made an emotional appeal to Indian and Chinese authorities to let him travel to Tibet’s Gyirong with a small team of volunteers to search for 80 missing Kailash pilgrims.
The pilgrims were returning from the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and had reportedly stopped at an immigration centre in Gyirong near the Tibet-Nepal border when the flooding hit. The building was inundated and, according to Sadhguru, was subsequently washed away.
Speaking in a video shared on X, Sadhguru appeared visibly distressed as he spoke about the missing members of the pilgrimage group, with followers heard crying in the background.
“We are in absolute pain of losing 80 people from our group in the floods in Gyirong. We have no further information after the floods,” Sadhguru said.
He appealed to authorities to allow him and a few volunteers to enter the affected area and assist with the search.
“We, along with the families, beseech you to kindly allow us (myself and a few volunteers) to be at Gyirong,” he said.
Sadhguru said efforts were being made through diplomatic channels to secure permission.
“We are seeking permission through the Indian embassy, the Chinese embassy in India and the American embassy is working on this to see if they can permit me and group of people to be there and see what we can do,” he said.
He stressed that the group did not intend to interfere with ongoing rescue operations.
“We deeply respect and understand the nature of the rescue efforts and will in no way hamper them. Our only intent is to stand with them and aid in looking for some signs that would help the families,” Sadhguru added.
Who Are The Missing Pilgrims?
Sadhguru identified the missing group as the S3 group of the Isha Foundation’s Kailash pilgrimage. He said the group comprised 80 people, including 34 men and 46 women, from several countries.
They included 22 people from the United States, 12 from Canada, 11 from Australia and nine from the United Kingdom. Others were from Germany, France, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain and several other countries.
Sadhguru said he had attempted to reach the disaster-hit area himself but was unable to proceed because roads had been blocked and communication networks had been disrupted.
“Looking at the scale of destruction, it looks bad,” he said, wiping away tears.
The flash floods caused extensive destruction across northern Nepal, with torrents of water, mud, sediment and boulders damaging roads, bridges and buildings.
The disaster has killed more than 200 people in Nepal, while several others, including hundreds of Indians, remain missing. Chinese authorities have separately reported deaths and people missing on the Tibet side of the border.
