{"id":870181,"date":"2026-08-27T11:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870181\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T11:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:24:18","slug":"nsw-couple-confirmed-missing-in-nepal-after-flash-flooding-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870181\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW couple confirmed missing in Nepal after flash flooding disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ABC has confirmed the identity of a NSW couple who are among a tour group including 15 Australians currently missing in Nepal after catastrophic flash flooding.<\/p>\n

Venkatraman Balakrishnan, 52, and his wife Chitra Venkatraman, 46, from Western Sydney, were taking part in a tour with US-based hiking company Himalayan Glacier when the natural disaster struck.<\/p>\n

Nepal flash floods updates<\/a>: Follow as this story as it unfolds with our live blog.<\/p>\n

The couple’s son told the ABC he last spoke to his parents when they were approximately 15 kilometres from the Tibet border.<\/p>\n

He said he had not heard from them since, but he held out hope the entire tour group would be found safe.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to see my parents and everyone who went with them back in one piece, and that everyone else there is as safe as possible,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Hundreds of foreign nationals have been reported missing after flash floods in Nepal.\u00a0 (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)<\/p>\n

The tour company said a group of 47 people in total, including the 15 Australians, were still unaccounted for in the Langtang Valley.<\/p>\n

Two Australian boys, aged 11 and 14, are also part of the tour group.<\/p>\n

Queensland mother-of-two among missing<\/p>\n

Swaatika Kanniah is the daughter of missing tourist Kanagamah Sundrasan, who visited Mount Kailash to complete a pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

“According to her itinerary, today was supposed to be the day she was getting there, basically,” Ms Kanniah said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very sacred spot, so it was one of her dreams to fulfil.”<\/p>\n

\"Kanagamah<\/p>\n

Kanagamah Sundrasan had visited Mount Kailash to complete a pilgrimage. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The mother-of-two owns a business with her husband in Queensland, and last spoke to her family on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a bit worrying because we haven’t been able to contact her yet; it’s been really hard to grab hold of anyone who has any information,” Ms Kanniah said.<\/p>\n

“We really want her to come back home and we miss her, like, a lot.”<\/p>\n

Ms Kanniah said her mum was “very giving” and “the kindest woman ever”.<\/p>\n

“She doesn’t really go on trips like this; that’s why it was very exciting for her to travel and do this thing that she always wanted to do.”<\/p>\n

‘We couldn’t make any contact with them’<\/p>\n

An Indian Australian community leader says 14 of his friends from Sydney are among those missing in Nepal after devastating flash flooding.<\/p>\n

Vasan Srinivasan, CEO\u00a0of Mental Health Foundation Australia, told ABC News he was “devastated” he had so far been unable to contact friends on a religious tour in the region.<\/p>\n

\"Vasan<\/p>\n

Vasan Srinivasan\u00a0says 14 of his friends are among the missing. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“There are 14 of my friends from Sydney who are connected to me through the mental health foundation,” Mr Srinivasan said.<\/p>\n

“They’re very active community members \u2026 they took a religious and spiritual tour to Nepal.<\/p>\n

“I’m trying to reach them and their family and friends in Sydney are also trying to reach them.<\/p>\n

“But unfortunately, still, we couldn’t make any contact with them.”<\/p>\n

The 14 Sydneysiders were part of the same tour group operated by Himalayan Glacier Adventures.<\/p>\n

Mr Srinivasan broke down describing a “lovely” family he is very close to with two sons in their 20s.<\/p>\n

“The tour company are still tracking their coordinates and unfortunately there is no telephone, there is no electricity in that area,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m really hoping that they are safe and alive, and they can contact us very soon.”<\/p>\n

Anxious wait for loved ones living in Australia\"Dipendra<\/p>\n

Dipendra Bistra was confirmed missing by his sister-in-law, who lives in Adelaide. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

In Adelaide, Manisha Khatri is anxiously awaiting news about her missing brother-in-law Dipendra Bistra.<\/p>\n

Ms Khatri found out Mr Bistra was unaccounted for during a routine call to family on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

“They have a little daughter around three years old. They just started their life and now he’s gone missing,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Khatri said there was nothing she could do but pray.<\/p>\n

“There is a different kind of pain in watching, like, our home country and homeland drown while we are miles away,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We are unable to express our feelings; it hurts.”<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the “scale of the destruction is devastating”.<\/p>\n

She said she had been in contact with Australia’s ambassadors in Nepal and China to offer her support and request that they do “everything they are able” to help locate missing Australians.<\/p>\n

Travellers in the area are being advised to exercise caution and follow the advice of local authorities.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ABC has confirmed the identity of a NSW couple who are among a tour group including 15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,438631,438630,438626,437891,438628,438627,44,438629],"class_list":["post-870181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-victims-nepal","tag-australians-missing-in-nepal","tag-nepal-death-toll","tag-nepal-flood","tag-nepal-floods-missing","tag-nepal-victims","tag-news","tag-sydney-couple-missing-in-nepal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}