Guwahati, August 30: Nine people from Assam linked to the devastating flash floods in Nepal have now been confirmed safe, while authorities continue efforts to trace those still unaccounted for and facilitate the return of stranded residents.The figure includes seven people whose safety has been confirmed in the latest list issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), along with two others, Gautam Das and Gopal Debnath, whose safety was confirmed separately by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The latest ASDMA list, dated August 30 and accessed by The Assam Tribune, contains 16 names of people from Assam who were either stranded or reported missing in Nepal. Of these, seven, namely, Soneswar Narzary, Pankaj Barman, Samar Bezbaruah, Dr Tirtha Chaliha, Silva Marak, Sarbison Marak and Elipson Sangma, have been confirmed safe, an ASDMA official said. The remaining nine, namley Rhituopurno Brahma, Montri Basumatary, Rahul Daimary, Shatadal Nath, Pankaj Naug, Arun Mahanta, Dr Dipali Sarkar, Manash Kr Ghosh and Birson Sangma, are yet to be confirmed safe. The two additional names emerged after Sarma said in a social media post on Saturday that he had spoken to eight Assam residents who had been safely rescued in Nepal following the floods. While six of the eight named by the Chief Minister also feature among those marked safe by the ASDMA, Gautam Das and Gopal Debnath do not figure in the authority's latest list. “The two names, Gautam Das and Gopal Debnath, are not in our list. Maybe the Chief Minister has independently contacted them,” the ASDMA official said. According to Sarma, the eight rescued persons are safe and were expected to return home on Sunday. He also thanked Varun Chaudhary, Executive Director of CG Corp Global, for his efforts in facilitating the rescue. The Assam government had opened a dedicated help desk at Assam Bhawan on August 25 to assist families trying to trace relatives who may have been affected by the disaster. An Assam Bhawan official said information received from families is passed on to the ASDMA, which coordinates with district authorities to compile and verify details before sharing them with the Ministry of External Affairs and other concerned agencies. “We get calls from people informing us about missing people and provide these details to the ASDMA. They then coordinate with the district authorities, compile the information and share it with the Ministry of External Affairs and with us,” the official told The Assam Tribune. The outreach comes as Nepal battles one of its worst flood disasters in recent years. As of Sunday, the death toll from the flash floods had risen to 724, while rescuers continued efforts to locate nearly 2,500 people reported missing five days after the disaster.