Thiruvananthapuram | As many as 53 Keralites, including children, are estimated to be stranded in Nepal following devastating floods, NORKA Roots said on Thursday.

NORKA Roots is the Keralam government agency that coordinates overseas affairs and welfare services for non-resident Keralites.

Addressing a press conference, NORKA Roots CEO Rajesh Madhavan said 17 sets of information regarding stranded Keralites had been received through the Chief Minister's Office and the Chief Secretary's Office and collated by around 3 am on Thursday.

"From that, we identified around 53 Keralites, including family members, adults and children," he said.

Though NORKA Roots has contact numbers of all 53 people, it is currently unable to establish direct contact with them due to network issues, Madhavan said.

He said NORKA Roots Development Officer in Delhi, is coordinating the efforts and had been in touch with the Resident Commissioner's Office and was directly passing information to the Indian Embassy.

The next step was to identify the last known locations of the stranded persons, Madhavan said.

"We re-contacted the family members who had reached out to us to confirm details. We collected the latest updates available, such as whether they had called recently or mentioned travelling to a specific location," he said.

These details have been shared with the concerned authorities to help pinpoint their last known locations, he said.

"Once that is secured, we hope to establish direct contact and gather complete information," Madhavan said.

He said no new calls regarding stranded Keralites had been received after the 53 persons were identified.

"We haven't been able to establish direct contact yet, but we have a general understanding that they are safe," he said.