
Six Days After Nepal Flood Disaster, Another Israeli Reported Missing
An Israeli woman has been reported missing following the devastating floods in Nepal, the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday.
Katrina (Katya) Skovitz, 41, who holds Israeli and Belarusian citizenship, has been out of contact since the disaster. She is the second Israeli currently reported missing.
Israel’s consul in Kathmandu and the Foreign Ministry’s department for Israelis in distress abroad are in contact with Skovitz’s family and are working with local authorities and other officials to locate her.
Another Israeli remains missing after being in the area of the Nepal-Tibet border. He was traveling with a group of 77 foreign tourists returning from a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. The group had reached the Gyirong immigration center on the Tibetan side of the border when the disaster struck.
Representatives of the organization accompanying the group spoke with its leader about 10 minutes before the flooding hit. There had been no indication of an impending disaster at the time. Contact with the group was lost shortly afterward.
The scale of the disaster continued to emerge Monday, with Nepalese authorities reporting 903 deaths and 4,247 people still missing.
The floods struck remote mountainous areas along a major route for travelers and pilgrims between Nepal and Tibet, causing extensive damage to roads, bridges, buildings and other infrastructure.
Thousands of soldiers and police officers have been involved in search-and-rescue efforts. Helicopters have been used to reach isolated mountain areas, rescue victims and deliver emergency supplies.