PRAYERS FOR LOVED ONES: What we know about the six South Africans missing in Nepal-Tibet floods

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> Gift of the Givers has released the names of the six South Africans missing after the Nepal-Tibet floods. One mother is anxious but holding out hope, saying her daughter ‘is a fighter’.

Linda Govender, whose daughter Terricia Govender is one of six South Africans missing after the Nepal-Tibet floods, said her family is holding on to hope as they wait for news about her.

Terricia (33) from Isipingo Beach, KwaZulu-Natal, was last known to be travelling with the Isha Foundation on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route near the Nepal-Tibet border at the time of the flash flood and mudslide.

The devastating flash floods and landslides on Wednesday, 26 August, have claimed at least 547 lives, with 977 people still missing, according to some news reports. Gift of the Givers released the names of the six South Africans on Friday.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation was unable to comment on the situation at the time of writing.

“Today she was supposed to come home,” her mother told Daily Maverick on Friday, holding back tears.

Terricia celebrated her 33rd birthday on 20 August, while on the pilgrimage. Linda said her daughter had been particularly excited to have met spiritual leader Sadhguru and received his blessing on her way back from Mount Kailash.

“She went to him, she got his blessings, and then they were coming back, and the last I spoke to Terricia, she was in the town of Kerung.”

Linda said she and Terricia spent about four hours on a video call on Wednesday, shopping together from afar. Both mother and daughter were browsing shops, with Terricia showing her mother items she was considering buying and gifts she intended to bring home for relatives.

Linda joked to Terricia that she should not spend all her money too quickly, as there were likely to be many more beautiful things to see in Nepal.

“When I spoke to Terricia, it must have been about 11 am where she was. She told me, ‘Mommy, when I reach Nepal, I’ll call you, and we can do more shopping’,” Linda recalled.

The floods have been linked to a glacier collapse, which occurred just after 8.30am on Wednesday. Around 9.45am, Linda tried calling her daughter, but there was no answer. This didn’t concern her as she initially thought Terricia may have lost network coverage.

Then, at about 2.30pm, Linda noticed an email from the Isha Foundation

“When I opened that email, I knew it was bad news. Terricia was in trouble,” she said, audibly distraught.