British Aid Worker Alastair Chambers Denies Nepal Flood Rescue Claim as 119 Survivors Were Announced
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 2
British Aid Worker Alastair Chambers Denies Nepal Flood Rescue Claim as 119 Survivors Were Announced
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 2
Summary
Alastair Chambers, 45, said Nepal authorities wrongly listed him among 119 people rescued after he returned to Kathmandu on a humanitarian helicopter and police took his details.
About 15 journalists then contacted the Gloucester aid worker, who said officials had presumed he was a flood survivor rather than a volunteer delivering relief near the Trishuli river.
Chambers said his team brought sleeping bags, water-purification tools, food and other essentials to villages cut off by collapsed bridges, with a trip from Kathmandu stretching from 90 minutes to eight or nine hours.
More than 1,000 people have been killed across Nepal and Tibet and 3,900 remain missing; UK minister Lord Wood said Tuesday that 36 British people were unaccounted for, up from 33.
Baroness Winterton is due in Kathmandu from Wednesday to discuss recovery support, while Chambers plans to return to the UK to raise funds before bringing back more supplies and solar lighting.
How did a British aid worker distributing supplies become officially listed as a rescued victim in Nepal's deadliest glacial flood?
With infrastructure obliterated and dozens of Britons missing, can international aid reach isolated Himalayan villages before secondary disasters strike?
What caused a Himalayan river to surge nine meters in thirty minutes, bypassing all early warning systems and trapping thousands?