A 60-year-old American woman, Mary Sorenson, is missing in Nepal after a spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet. Known as the “Forbidden Mountain” and revered by Hindus and Buddhists, the trip was Mary’s “dream of a lifetime”, who departed from Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
During her stay on the mountain, Mary participated in yoga practices, prayers and meditations alongside a group of other Americans who accompanied her.
The pilgrimage had been completed, and Mary was preparing to return to the United States when she was hit by a mud avalanche on August 26, 2026. The natural disaster swept across a vast area on the border between Tibet and Nepal.
Her son, Riley Wildeman, said the last communication he received from his mother was “Tuesday morning. She was coming down the mountain,” he said.
In her last message to her family, Mary expressed her anticipation for the long journey home, planning to reflect on the spiritual experience. Touchingly, she concluded the text by stating: “I am very grateful that you are my family.”
The family contacted the United States Department of State and government authorities in Nepal and China in a desperate attempt to locate Mary.
Riley shared the family’s immense anguish. “We feel immense anguish, a lot of sadness and pain. A deep, visceral pain,” he declared, emphasizing that they experience “the anguish of the situation, not the pain of loss.”
He concluded that his entire family, including his mother, has faith in a God who works miracles. He believes that the miracle resulting from this situation will be something that, even if not fully understood now, will be recognized and felt in the future.
Search for missing people after floods and landslides on the border
Catastrophic floods and landslides hit the Nepal-Tibet border region on the morning of August 26, 2026, shortly after Mary Sorenson’s last contact with her family.
Rescue teams are working tirelessly in the border area, searching for more than 4,700 people missing in the mud. Among those missing, 592 are foreigners, and at least 85 of them are Americans, according to information from Nepal’s disaster management agency and local authorities.
