KATHMANDU, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- About 100 Chinese tourists stranded in heavy floods in Sauraha, a popular tourist destination in southern Chitwan district of Nepal, had been brought to safe locations, police and the local hotel association said Sunday.
According to the local hotel association, there were about 600 domestic and foreign tourists in Sauraha before the floods from nearby Rapti river entered the hotel rooms as a result of incessant rainfalls since Saturday evening.
"All the tourists including around 100 Chinese tourists have been relocated to safe hotels at higher altitudes," Deepak Bhattarai, first vice president of the local hotel association told Xinhua over phone on Sunday.
A police official from the District Police Office in Chitwan also confirmed to Xinhua that the tourists had been rescued and brought to safe areas.
Local hotel entrepreneurs in collaboration with security agencies used elephants and boats to relocate the tourists to safe areas.
There are over 100 hotels in Sauraha and almost all of them have been affected by the floods, according to the association. The floods are said to be the biggest ones in the last 15 years in the area.
The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the main tourism promotion body, has also said that they are constantly in touch with the administration of Chitwan district and the hoteliers for the safety of the tourists.
"I had also discussed with Chinese ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong on Sunday about the safety of the Chinese tourists visiting Sauraha," said Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of NTB.
Nepal has been experiencing heavy rainfalls across the country for the last few days. As a result, as many as 64 people were dead, 44 injured and 36 went missing in floods and landslides, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal on Sunday.
