KATHMANDU: Thousands of people were still missing in Nepal on Friday as food and help began to trickle through to those stranded in remote areas after last week’s earthquake which killed at least 6,250 people.

Up to 1,000 Europeans were still unaccounted for, mostly around popular trekking routes, the head of the European Union (EU) delegation in Nepal said.

“We don’t know where they are, or they could be,” Ambassador Rensje Teerink told reporters. Officials said it was hard to trace the missing because many backpackers did not register with their embassies.

Also read: Nepal quake toll passes 6,100

Nepal’s home ministry said it had not been informed that the number of EU citizens missing after Saturday’s earthquake could be as high as 1,000.

“If that is the case then why are the embassies not informing us? Why have they not contacted the Nepal government?” home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said.

Bodies are still being pulled from the debris of ruined buildings, while rescue workers have not been able to reach some remote areas.

The government put the number of injured at more than 14,350.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2015

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