Fears are mounting for American tourists who embarked on a spiritual pilgrimage to Nepal when a glacier collapsed and caused devastating floods that have now claimed the lives of over 900 people. Nine US residents have been evacuated from the region since the catastrophic floods engulfed the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the US State Department announced on Sunday. But more than 4,000 people from across the globe remain unaccounted for, authorities in China and Nepal said early Monday as more information comes in about the droves of people who were swept up in the floods. Among the missing are 85 Americans, some of whom descended on the region to climb Mount Kailash, one of the most sacred peaks in the Himalayas. Tibetan Buddhists believe the mountain is the center of the universe and that the trek, known as kora, brings one closer to enlightenment. Hindus also revere the mountain as the home to Shiva, the god of destruction and transformation, while Jains believe a prophet climbed the mountain to achieve salvation. 

Meanwhile, the Tibetan Bon tradition also considers the peak a source of spiritual power. Scores of Americans, ranging from an eighth-grader from New York to a 60-year-old grandmother-of-four from Atlanta, Georgia, embarked on the pilgrimage this year when the devastating flash floods occurred. Their loved ones back home say they have now been left without answers about their family members' whereabouts as the desperate search efforts continue and the US starts to provide aid to the region. The devastating sequence of events began just after 8.30am local time on the day of the floods, when the earth started shaking along the Nepal-China border. The US Geological Survey initially detected the shaking as a magnitude 5.2 earthquake but later determined that a massive section of glacier had collapsed. The United States Geological Survey described the seismic event as an extremely powerful 'glacial collapse and debris flow' that caused catastrophic impacts downstream. Pictured: Mary Sorenson.

As the ice mass plummeted, it was pulverized into a fast-flowing mix of freezing water, debris and rocks that swept down the mountainside into the Lende Khola River, razing villages along the way. It also completely wiped out the border checkpoints and the Friendship Bridge that connects Nepal to China, which tourists seeking to climb Mount Kailash must pass through. The Himalayan Glacier tour company has since said that 40 of its pilgrims, including eight Americans, remain unaccounted for. Tennessee-based spiritual organization Isha Foundation also said 77 of its pilgrims were missing, including 22 Americans. 

In a grim update on Saturday, the group said the floods had buried the area under 50 feet of silt and debris. 'The immigration office complex has been completely washed away,' the Isha Foundation posted on X. 'We were desperately hoping for some positive indication from the site,' it continued. 'However, we are deeply pained to share that the devastating findings we have been able to verify so far are not giving us any encouraging indication. 'We wish with all our hearts that we could offer something more hopeful,' the group's organizers added, but 'everything our teams have seen and everything those closest to the site have shared with us has led us to expect the worst.' Among those who had traveled with the Isha Foundation was Anil Goel, of Centreville, Virginia, who had trained with his friends for months leading up to the trip. Others in his group included Mary Sorensen, a 60-year-old Atlanta resident; Prabhath Sajeep (pictured) a, a 48-year-old father-of-two from California who was seeking a blessing for his ailing father; and VS 'Bali' Balasubramanyam, an ardent devotee of Shiva who relocated from New Jersey to India, the Washington Post reports.

The group reached Mount Kailash on August 22, when Balasubramanyam told his sister in a video call that he was having a surreal experience that was difficult to put into words. His family then thought they would be able to catch up with him and ask him more about the experience upon his return. Meanwhile, Sorenson sent her son some photos of the brightly colored prayer flags at the base of the mountain, but went into little detail about the experience over text. She instead told family she was looking forward to the long flights home so she could gather all of her thoughts to share how 'truly enlightening' the experience had been. Goel also sent his family a picture of him posing with several members of the tour group in front of the Gyirong immigration facility that would be destroyed just half an hour later.

Separately, Rekha Shashidharan and her 14-year-old daughter, Rashi, told Rekha's brother, Shekhar Agrawal how they were planning to go to the immigration checkpoint at around noon that day and cross into Tibet. 'After that, there was radio silence, nothing, no contact whatsoever,' Agrawal told CNN. Shreya Ahuja, who lives in North Carolina, said she had a similar experience with her parents, Dallas, Texas business owners Deepak and Madju Ahuja, who had finished the pilgrimage for her father's 60th birthday. They had told her they were heading back to the border post – but that was the last she had heard from them. 'I tried texting them; I tried calling them,' she recounted to NPR. 'And initially I wasn't too concerned. I feel like everyone thinks "What are the chances that they were in that exact spot?"' Many of the pilgrims had been scheduled to fly back to their home countries the following day. Instead, their families have been left poring through satellite images of post-flood damage and scouring survivor lists in Nepal.