At least 39 Australians are missing after flash flooding in Nepal, including a Sydney family of four who were on a pilgrimage. Relatives of the family say they are “worried, but hopeful” they will be found safe.
The family—Shylaja Muralitharan, 42, her husband Chandrasekaran Muralitharan, 47, and their sons Ashwin, 14, and Aarush, 11—were trekking as part of a group of 15 Australians with Himalayan Glacier Adventures when the flood hit on Wednesday morning.
Shylaja’s younger sister, Vaishnavi, who requested her surname not be published, said she lost contact with the family shortly after breakfast on the day of the flood. They had planned to head towards an immigration checkpoint on the Tibet-Nepal border soon after.
Family anxiously awaits news
“Just like everyone else that’s part of that group, we’re really worried, but hopeful,” Vaishnavi told the Guardian. “Hopeful that they’re safe, and just waiting to be rescued. It’s a very difficult time for our whole family … I just want to make people aware that they’re there, and we’re waiting, and we just want them to return.”
Vaishnavi confirmed the family were close with other members of the group who had also travelled from Sydney for the Hindu pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, in Tibet. She said they had been training together for the long walk.
“They had been planning for some time, and preparing, because it’s quite a trek. They were all working very hard together to make sure they could successfully complete it. We just didn’t expect anything like this,” she said.
Other Australians unaccounted for
New South Wales couple Venkatraman Balakrishnan, 52, and his wife, Chitra Venkatraman, 46, were also among the 15 Australians travelling to Mount Kailash. So too were Sreedharan and Lakshmi Iyer, and their adult sons Rishab, 23, and Rudhra, 20. The brothers played cricket for West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club, in Sydney’s north-west.
“WPHCCC is aware of the reports that two of our players, Rishab and Rudhra Iyer, along with their family members and other Australians, are unaccounted for in the ongoing floods in Nepal,” the club said in a statement. “We continue to live in hope, and our thoughts are currently with them, their loved ones and all affected by this tragedy in Nepal.”
Separate groups of Australians—11 travelling with Trekkers Society and six with Kailash Journeys—are also unaccounted for. Both tour companies have been contacted for comment. Several other Australians were travelling with other tour groups. It is understood the majority of missing Australians are from New South Wales, but there are also some from Victoria and Queensland.
Tour operator holds little hope
Sagar Pandey, the founder and chief executive of Himalayan Glacier Adventures, said he had lost all contact with his tour group of 47 people, which included the 15 Australians. Pandey told the Guardian on Thursday he had flown by helicopter over the Rasuwa area, where the tour was staying, since the flood and had little hope they survived.
“To be honest … you would think there was no human civilisation there at all. The flash flood swept away everything, everything, you couldn’t see any human creations. Still, I have a hope, but like 1%; the rest I don’t have a hope, they are missing and missing and missing.”
The Isha Foundation confirmed that 11 Australians were among a group of 80 missing pilgrims that had been in an immigration building when the flood hit.
Government response
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said on Friday that the Australian government was “rapidly mobilising consular and humanitarian support in response” to the flooding. “We understand at least 39 Australians are among those reported missing. Australian officials are working urgently to confirm their welfare and provide assistance to those affected.”
Wong said the government would send an initial team of three humanitarian response specialists “within the next 48 hours” to help Australian staff already on the ground. “The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery.”
