A week after catastrophic Nepal floods, Long Island families have no news about missing loved ones

A week after their loved ones went missing in Nepal's catastrophic floods, Aditi Patel, of Old Westbury, and other family members have no new information about them.

Patel, 42, believes her mother, Tejal Vyomesh Patel, 64, of New Jersey; her mother-in-law, Amita Amin, 67, of Roslyn Heights; and family friend Jitendra Manubhai Patel, 72, of Merrick, had just passed the border into Tibet last Wednesday when the deadly floods from a glacier collapse inundated the area, she said.

But as of Tuesday, Patel said, no embassy could confirm the time stamp of when the group crossed the border, or even confirm or deny their entry into Tibet.

"We’re not even asking, 'Did you find them?' " Patel said. "We’re just trying to piece together the puzzle."

Patel and Sunny Patel, 38, son of Jitendra Manubhai Patel, previously told Newsday they had spoken with their parents shortly before they attempted to cross the border.

The seven-member tour group arrived in Kathmandu last week and was headed to Tibet to visit Mount Kailash, considered a sacred peak by Hindus, Buddhists and people of other faiths.

The family members said they reached out to numerous embassies including those in Nepal, China and India. But Aditi Patel said it had been a constant "back-and-forth" of going over the same information and no new updates.

She has been in constant communication with the embassy in Beijing, she said. Although their caseworker has been open with the family, Patel said, they also had no news.

"We’re just kind of stuck on this time frame," Patel said. "Both sides don’t have that information."

More than 4,400 people are reported missing since the floods. The Associated Press reported that combined deaths in Nepal and China have surpassed 950. Around 85 Americans are still unaccounted for.

As of Monday, the Nepali government has begun burying victims in mass graves after struggling to keep the bodies refrigerated long enough for relatives to identify them. Authorities say they have collected DNA samples in each case.

As time has gone on, Patel said, she and her family were taking things day by day. She credited the support of family members and her community to get her through events, such as her children’s first day of school.

Patel and her husband, Dhruv Amin, both work at a primary healthcare facility with her father-in-law and her mother-in-law, she previously told Newsday.

The couple is considering going to Nepal to find their mothers. But Dipak Lamichhane, owner of tour group operator Nepal Trekking Planner, who is currently in Nepal, is also having no luck in search-and-rescue, both Amin and Patel told Newsday.

Lamichhane’s own son-in-law, who was one of the three Nepali guides with the tour group, also is missing.

Sunny Patel, who visited his mother in Merrick last week after his father went missing in Nepal, said he was still cautiously optimistic, especially after CBS reported on Tuesday one U.S. national who had been missing was contacted.

"It’s tough, as you can imagine," he said. "We're just holding out some hope that we get some information."