Nepal floods: 39 missing Australians spark hope and despair among families

A wave of flash flooding in the Rasuwa district of Nepal on Wednesday morning has left 39 Australians missing, including the parents and two teenage sons of Shylaja and Chandrasekaran Muralitharan of Sydney. The family was part of a 15‑person pilgrimage group trekking to Mount Kailash in Tibet when the waters surged, and they have yet to be located. Australian officials say the death toll in the region is close to 400 and about 1,400 people, mostly tourists, remain unaccounted for.

The Muralitharans were among a larger group of Australians who had travelled on the Himalayan Glacier Adventures tour. The family had been preparing for the trek for months, training together in Sydney, and had planned to head toward the immigration checkpoint on the Tibet‑border after breakfast on the day of the flood. “We’re really worried, but hopeful,” said Vaishnavi Muralitharan, the younger sister of Shylaja, who has not been able to contact her family since the flood. She told the Guardian that the family had been close to other members of the group and that they “just didn’t expect anything like this.”

Other Australians missing in the same area include New South Wales couples Venkatraman and Chitra Balakrishnan, Sreedharan and Lakshmi Iyer and their adult sons Rishab (23) and Rudhra (20). The Iyer brothers were students at the University of Newcastle and played cricket for the West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club in Sydney. The club released a statement expressing its hope that the brothers and their families would be found. The university’s vice‑chancellor, Alex Zelinsky, also said he was thinking of the students and their families and hoped they would be located soon.

The missing pilgrims also include 11 Australians who were part of an Isha Foundation pilgrimage and were in an immigration building when the flood struck. Sumi Adhikari, who was at the Gyirong Post crossing with her husband Nava Pandey, is also missing. The Isha Foundation released a flyer asking anyone with information to contact the family. Other missing Australians were travelling with the Trekkers Society and Kailash Journeys tour companies. The tour companies have not yet commented on the situation.

Himalayan Glacier Adventures’ founder and chief executive, Sagar Pandey, said he had lost all contact with the 47‑person tour group, which included the 15 Australians. He told the Guardian that he had flown by helicopter over the Rasuwa area since the flood and had “little hope” that anyone survived. “The flash flood swept away everything,” he said, adding that he had a slim hope of survival for a few people but that most were missing.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that the government was “rapidly mobilising consular and humanitarian support” in response to the disaster. She confirmed that at least 39 Australians were among those reported missing and that officials were working urgently to confirm their welfare and provide assistance. 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. She noted that the extraordinary scale of the disaster and the remoteness of the affected region present immense challenges for the response and recovery effort.

The Australian government’s response is ongoing. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been in contact with the families, and the Department of Home Affairs is coordinating with Nepalese authorities to locate the missing. Families are waiting for updates, hoping that rescue teams will find survivors. The Nepalese government has reported that rescue operations are underway, but the mountainous terrain and ongoing weather conditions have hampered progress.

In the broader context, the Nepal floods have claimed nearly 400 lives and left thousands of people displaced. The international community, including the United Nations, has called for urgent humanitarian assistance. For the Australian families, the uncertainty remains. While they remain hopeful that their loved ones will be found safe, the lack of clear information has left them anxious and in need of support from both Australian and Nepalese authorities.