Two Bahraini students who have been missing in the flooded state of Kashmir since Sunday (September 7) are believed to have been located.

Families of students Adel Ali Ahmed Mahdi Altaitoon, 24, and Hussain Mahdi Ebrahim, 23, lodged missing persons reports at the Bahrain Embassy in India and the Indian Embassy in Bahrain, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Charge d'affaires at the Bahrain Embassy in New Delhi, Marem Al Saleh, yesterday told the GDN that it had been notified that four Bahrainis had been found alive and well in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Two of them are known to be Ishaq Mohammed Saleh Ahmed and his wife Shehnaz Hashem Mohammed Al Ansari, while the identities of the two others have not yet been confirmed.

It is thought that the two unidentified Bahrainis are Altaitoon and Ebrahim.

Al Saleh told the GDN yesterday that a private jet would be chartered to evacuate them.

“While we know that the couple, Ishaq Mohammed Saleh Ahmed and his wife Shehnaz Hashem Mohammed Al Ansari, are safe in Havana Resort, we are also told by police that two other Bahrainis are safe in one of the hotels near Nehru Park police station, which we believe are the two boys,” said Al Saleh.

“We had passed on the names and pictures of the two boys to the military forces and we await more details.”

She said authorities were planning to charter a jet to rescue the four Bahrainis due to acute food and water shortages now plaguing Kashmir, which has witnessed its worst floods in 50 years.

“There is an acute shortage of food, water and medicines and the army is throwing down food packets,” said Al Saleh.

“So we do not know about the condition of the two, though we know that the couple are provided with necessities.”

The embassy passed on details of the four Bahrainis to the Indian military ahead of a high-level meeting last night.

“We hope they consider our request as a priority, though their prime concern is rescuing those stranded by mud and water - especially women and children,” added Al Saleh.

Meanwhile, she revealed parents of the two students were planning to travel to Kashmir once flights resume.

“They can come, but all routes are closed and they will not be able to go to Srinagar,' she said, noting that embassy officials were also awaiting permission to visit Srinagar.

Altaitoon's brother, Mohammed, said the families of the two students were anxiously awaiting confirmation that they had been found.

“Both the families are waiting for some official response from the embassy and then we will go to India,” he told the GDN.

“We found Adel's name on the Indian Army's official list of rescued people - number 122.

“But this has not been confirmed to us by the embassy.”

A picture released by the Press Trust of India yesterday, showing a young man resembling Ebrahim clutching a tree surrounded by flood waters, left Altaitoon's family in panic.

However, their initial fears subsided when they were reassured by friends that it was not him.

Altaitoon and Ebrahim are both students at the Indian Academy in Bangalore, Karnataka, and had left on a sightseeing tour of Srinagar on Saturday - the same day that reports emerged of serious floods.

Latest reports say more than 200 people have died in the floods and thousands are stranded, while over 110,000 have been rescued. - TradeArabia News Service