First photo of Australian survivor: Consular officials make contact with missing woman

Six more Australians have been identified as missing in the Nepalese floods, as the overall number rose to 41, in what could be the worst loss of Australian life on foreign soil since the Bali bombings.

Bharat Mangwani, Karan Bhardwaj, Arpan Kothari, Bhavin Raval, Michael Ryan Keats and Gopi Agastya were all identified among the list of Australians , after family members for each either reached out to this masthead or posted on social media about the search for their loved ones.

No Australians have been listed as rescued according to the Nepalese National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, with Australians also accounting for the highest number of foreign nationals missing in the wreckage left behind by the devastating floods.

Harsh Maheshwari, a friend of Sydneysider Mangwani, said they held out hope that some Australians were still alive and were stuck in a building, under the mud.

“We are all still hoping. His family have travelled there to search for him. They could have stayed in the building or maybe they went out. We don’t know, but we have hope,” he said.

Mangwani’s last known location was at the Gyirong Immigration Facility, which was inundated with floodwater in the early stages of the disaster. Like many Australians caught in the tragedy, he was taking part in a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar as part of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.

The family of Royal Australian Air Force member Karan Bhardwaj is pleading for information after losing contact with the Brisbane father, who was travelling with tour group Kailash Journeys when the flash floods hit.

Bhardwaj was travelling with friends Kothari, 40, and Raval, 41. The Brisbane-based trio have not been heard from since and are among six Australians currently missing from the Kailash Journeys tour group.

Keats from NSW was understood to be returning from a journey to Mount Kailash in Tibet, and had reached the border crossing into Nepal when the floods struck. The 37-year-old had been due to arrive home from his journey on Thursday night.

Details surrounding 45-year-old Gopi Agastya are still scarce, but his brother-in-law told this masthead that he was missing. Venkatesh Bittu confirmed his family were “waiting for him to return safe”.

The only identified Australian who made contact with family so far has been 26-year-old Cara Severino , who called her parents early on Friday morning. But they have not heard from her since, and are among the many families in Australia holding out for more information.

Nepal’s disaster agency revised the death toll to 626 with 2426 people missing. More than 3700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far. China’s state media said 554 people were missing on the Chinese side.

Search and rescue efforts are continuing at several locations in Nepal and China’s Tibet, including the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Nepal’s Rasuwa district and the severely damaged Gyirong border crossing on the Chinese side.

Poor weather temporarily hampered aerial rescue operations in Nepal as the search for thousands of missing people entered its fourth day.