Foreign Secretary statement on earthquakes in Nepal
The Foreign Secretary has given an update on the situation in Nepal.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff are continuing to work round the clock to identify and assist British Nationals in Nepal.
We’ve got a British Army Gurkha team, as you know, that was on Everest that is continuing to trek down the mountain and identifying and reporting British Nationals on the way as they go. We’ve also got Gurkhas from the Gurkha Training Base in Nepal who are assisting the local authorities.
We are urgently investigating unconfirmed reports of a non-UK resident British National having been killed and our teams on the ground will report back as soon as they have any further information on that.
I’ve spoken to the Nepalese Prime Minister this morning to assure him of our commitment to see what other assistance Nepal urgently needs. We have a C-17 loaded with British Army Gurkha Engineers and equipment in the region. We also have a DFID chartered Boeing 767 loaded with rescue teams and supplies. They’re both waiting for landing slots when the weather at Kathmandu permits. They will be in and operating as soon as possible.
In the meantime we have already got some UK personnel in on other flights and there are 60 British personnel, search and rescue teams and other experts already on the ground delivering assistance. We’ll hold a COBR meeting tomorrow which I will chair to take stock of where we are and to look at further assistance needs of the Nepalese government.
Further information
British nationals requiring assistance can contact us on +44 (0) 207 008 0000 or they can text NEPAL to +447860010026. Please check our travel advice page for regular updates
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