Four members of a Sydney family are among at least 34 Australians reported missing after catastrophic flash floods swept through Nepal’s Himalayan border region, as distraught relatives and friends make urgent appeals for information about their loved ones.
The missing Australians include Cherrybrook residents Sreedharan Iyer, 53, his wife Lakshmi Sreedharan Iyer, 50, and their two sons, Rudhra Sreedharan Iyer, 21, and Rishabh Iyer, 24.
Both sons are studying medicine, with Rudhra attending Western Sydney University and Rishabh studying medicine at the University of Newcastle.
The family had travelled to Nepal with a larger group of Indian Australians on a trekking and religious journey. They had reportedly been in Nepal for about a week before the disaster struck.
As per reports, Sydney-based family friend and doctor Dr Manoj Dharmaratnam is leading an appeal for information about the missing travellers. He said families and friends were struggling to comprehend the scale of the disaster and were desperate for any information that could establish the whereabouts of those still out of contact.
The group included several other Sydney residents, among them Venkatraman Balakrishnan, 52, and his wife Chitra Venkatraman, 46. The couple were also travelling with US-based tour operator Himalayan Glacier Adventures and have been confirmed among those missing. Their son told the ABC he last spoke to his parents when they were about 15 kilometres from the Tibet border.
Other members of the wider group include Rajeswari Sharma, who celebrated her 64th birthday last week, as well as Sruthi Chandrasekaran, Krishna Sharma, Umesh Sharma, Chandrasekaran Muralitharan, Shylaja Muralitharan and Kumar Ramaswamy Sampath. Two of the missing travellers, Ashwin and Aarush Muralitharan, are aged 14 and 11 respectively.
The devastating flash flood struck Nepal’s Rasuwa region on Wednesday, sending a massive surge of water, mud and rock through areas near the Nepal-China border. The disaster destroyed buildings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure and has left hundreds of people missing.
Nepalese authorities say the flooding was likely triggered by an ice and rock avalanche from a Himalayan glacier. An initial report of an earthquake was later revised after experts determined that the tremor-like event was associated with the collapse of ice and rock.
The Australian government has confirmed that at least 34 Australians are unaccounted for. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the figure could change as authorities continue working to establish the whereabouts of Australians in the affected region.
Of the Australians currently known to be missing, 15 were travelling with Himalayan Glacier Adventures. The company said the wider group of 47 people, including the Australians, had been travelling in the Langtang Valley and that it had been unable to establish contact with them after the flooding.
Six other Australians were travelling with Kailash Journeys, while another Australian was associated with Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travels. The Australian government has been working with Nepalese authorities, tour operators and diplomatic representatives to establish the welfare of those missing.
The silence has left families facing an agonising wait.
For the Iyer family, relatives and friends have been urgently seeking information about Sreedharan, Lakshmi, Rudhra and Rishabh, who were last known to be in Nepal before communications were disrupted.
Rishabh, 24, is a medicine student at the University of Newcastle, while his younger brother Rudhra is studying at Western Sydney University.
Community members have also rallied around other Sydney families affected by the disaster, including the Venkatraman couple and the Muralitharan family.
Indian-Australian community leader Vasan Srinivasan said many of the missing Australians were Sydney-based members of the Australia Bharatha Brahman Samajam, a cultural and religious organisation he founded.
The disaster has also affected families in Victoria. Melbourne resident Kumar Sampath is among the Australians reported missing after travelling on a pilgrimage.
His son described him as a hardworking entrepreneur who had retired after running an engineering business specialising in railways.
Meanwhile, the Isha Foundation has reported that 11 Australians travelling with the organisation are missing after a building at a Nepal-Tibet border crossing was engulfed by floodwaters.
The latest disaster has left more than 1,300 people missing across Nepal and Tibet, including hundreds of foreign nationals. Nepalese authorities have reported hundreds of missing foreign tourists, with Australians among those from more than 30 countries caught up in the disaster.
Rescue teams are continuing operations in difficult terrain, with Nepal, China and India coordinating search and relief efforts. Communications and road access have been severely disrupted in some of the worst-affected areas.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian government was working urgently to establish the welfare of Australians caught up in the disaster.
“Nepal is a developing country. It doesn’t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult,” Albanese said.
Wong said additional Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade personnel, including crisis-response specialists, were being deployed to support Australia’s diplomatic response.
Australians requiring emergency consular assistance can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 when calling from overseas.
The search for the missing Australians continues, with families across Sydney and Melbourne anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.
Support our Journalism
No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.
