Kolkata:
A visa denial for a Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage helped a woman from West Bengal avert the flash floods in Nepal that claimed 270 lives a day ago.
Had her Chinese visa been granted, she would have been among the 33 people from the state who had planned to travel to the Himalayan country as part of the pilgrimage.
Tapati Singha (61), who visited Ladakh after being denied permission to join the pilgrimage group, told PTI that she was cutting short her trip and returning to Kolkata on Thursday night.
As of now, there is no information about the 32 missing tourists, officials said.
The Nepal-based counterpart of the Kolkata travel agency organising the trip has been unable to establish contact with any of the travellers.
“I have already landed in Delhi and should reach Kolkata airport by evening,” she said.
Singha, who had wanted to undertake the Kailash yatra, had been part of a 13-day journey planned through a Kolkata-based travel agency since May, attending preparatory meetings, shopping trips and trekking sessions with the group.
Just days before departure, she was informed that her visa had been rejected without any reason cited. Devastated, she changed her plans and travelled to Ladakh instead.
Singha said the rejection that had once left her shattered now weighed on her differently.
The travel agency said four of their officials had already gone to Nepal and expected some information by evening.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
