Ten men from Northern Virginia are among the more than 2,000 people missing in the growing catastrophe in Nepal.
In the days after a glacial collapse in the Himalayas unleashed deadly flash flooding on the boarder between Nepal and Tibet, the world has watched in horror and family members in the U.S. have desperately waited for news.
“Communication with anyone directly in that region has been really challenging,” Anurag Goel said.
From his home in Boston, Goel awoke to a call alerting him that communication with his father, Anil Goel of Ashburn, Virginia, had been abruptly lost while he was traveling in the affected area.
Anurag says his father completed 10 Marine Corps marathons, most recently in 2024. He’s also an avid mountain climber and a lover of the Himalayan region who traveled frequently to the area.
He often brings groups of men interested in sharing that adventure. This time, he brought nine, all from Northern Virginia.
All 10 are currently unaccounted for.
The names of the missing men are:
- Anil Goel
- Srinivas Sudhir Rangu
- Mahendra Gupta
- Laxminath Gopisetty
- Kesava Rao Tadipatri
- Kirti Acharya
- Suhindra Yapalparvi
- Vivek Srivastav
- Venkat Balasubramanyam
- Venkat Bangalore
“It’s been impossible to find out what’s going on at the grassroots level,” Goel said.
Virginia Congressman Suhas Subramanyam tells News4 that five men missing in the flooding are his constituents. Many families in his district wait anxiously for information about their loved ones in Nepal.
“Certainly we are in touch with the Department of Defense (DOD) and the State Department,” Subramanyam said. “We’re trying to make sure that the Nepalese government has everything that it needs and that we are there for them.”
Subramanyam added that Nepal has asked for specialized equipment from the DOD, and that his office will work with the DOD to help deliver that equipment.
