‘I’m just praying’: Number of missing Australians rises as devastated families at home await news

A majority of the 39 Australian victims of the devastating flash flooding in Nepal and Tibet were pilgrims on a journey to one of the most spiritually significant locations in the world.

Through both overtly religious travel groups, or traditional groups offering pilgrimage packages, they were either seeking to trek to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar as part of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, where they cross into Tibet from Nepal.

Families across the country are reeling in the aftermath of the devastating flash flooding in Nepal and Tibet, as the number of Australians reported missing rises and loved ones at home hold out hope for any good news.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday morning that at least 39 Australians are now reported missing – up from 35 overnight.

Fifteen of the missing Australians were travelling with the Himalayan Glacier Adventure and Travel Kailash Group, six others were travelling with the Kailash Journeys tour group, and 11 were on a pilgrimage with non-profit spiritual organisation the Isha Foundation. The whereabouts of one traveller with Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travel, and six other Australian travellers remain unknown.

Indian-Australian community leader Vasan Srinivasan said the other 14 missing Australians from the Himalayan Glacier pilgrimage were Sydney-based members of a cultural and religious non-profit he founded called the Australia Bharatha Brahman Samajam.

“We are all very distressed and trying to track them. I’m just praying.” He said those missing worked in various professions, including the financial industry, and many were his close professional friends.

A couple from Melbourne’s east have been identified as being among the 39 Australians reported missing after the catastrophic flash flood in Nepal.

Sandeep Mohapatra, 43, and Sidharthi Kumari Sahu, 39, live in Wantirna South and travelled to the Nepal-China border as part of a trek, their friend Manoranjan “Manu” Nayak told this masthead.

He said the couple moved to Australia in 2018 from the Indian state of Odisha, where much of their family remains. Nayak met them through the Odia community in Melbourne.

“We’re a very close community of people. We just met during the festive season,” Nayak said. “They didn’t have anyone here to help them. They were just migrants who came here.”

Mohapatra and Sahu’s last known location was an immigration centre, Nayak added, but they have been uncontactable since.

Sandeep’s ​cousin, Soumya Mohapatra, told Reuters : “We last spoke to them on August 23 and received a text message the next day. Since then, we have had no information about their whereabouts.

“We have lost hope after hearing about the scale of the destruction and the number of deaths.”