KATHMANDU: The Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN), an umbrella organization of mountain tourism entrepreneurs, has said that pilgrims going to Kailash Mansarovar are facing problems due to the Nepal-China Miteri Bridge being washed away.

TAAN General Secretary Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa issued a statement on Friday, saying that pilgrims heading to Kailash Mansarovar were facing problems after a bridge was washed away due to floods in the Lehende River on Tuesday morning.

TAAN has urged the Chinese government to immediately take diplomatic initiatives with the Chinese government to create an environment for people to travel to Mansarovar through Tatopani, Korola, Hilsa and other checkpoints, saying that Nepali and foreign pilgrims and tourists who were going to Kailash Mansarovar in the autonomous region of Tibet via road from Rasuwagadhi due to the Miteri Bridge being washed away.

TAAN President Sagar Pandey also demanded that the government make passports easily available to pilgrims and tourists entering the autonomous region of Tibet in China at the beginning of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage season.

He requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take diplomatic initiatives with the Chinese Embassy in Nepal to make the visa process faster, simpler, and more traveler-friendly, and to create an environment where pilgrims waiting in Kathmandu can travel to Kailash as soon as possible.

TAAN expressed its heartfelt condolences to those who died in the floods and also drew the government’s attention to the urgent search for the missing.