Nepal-Tibet floods: Families anxiously wait for news as number of missing Australians rises to 41

The number of Australians missing in the devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet has climbed overnight.

Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite confirmed on Saturday the total number of missing Australians is now 41 .

“We’ve been in contact with most of their next of kin, we’ve got consular staff on the ground there in Kathmandu,” Thistlethwaite told Sunrise.

“We’re doing all we can, we’re working around the clock to try and make contact with these missing Australians.”

It comes as Nepalese authorities confirmed at least 579 people have died with 1924 people — 549 of whom are foreign nationals — still missing after the floods

Some Australian families have joined the hundreds of people travelling to Nepal in search of their loved ones.

A number of those families have posted flyers of missing people on a building in Kathmandu, where authorities are bringing those rescued or the bodies of victims found in the debris.

Rescue teams have begun searches closer to the border with Tibet, where the flood was more destructive.

Footage released by the Nepali Army shows people crawling through mud and being carried on the backs of soldiers before being winched to safety by a helicopter.

Thistlethwaite confirmed 26-year-old Wollongong woman, Cara Severino, has made contact after the flood — but efforts to rescue her are hindered because of the destruction.

“The region is devastated, the roads out of the area are completely destroyed, there’s no telecommunications infrastructure, 10,000 homes have been destroyed,” he said.

“She’s attempting to hike out as best she can and we’re trying to make contact with her to get transport to her as quickly as possible and get her safely back to Kathmandu.”

Her family issued a statement on Friday, saying they “eagerly await more information about her safe return”.

Severino’s family is just one of dozens in Australia anxiously waiting for information.