{"id":871426,"date":"2026-08-28T12:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871426\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T12:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:18:15","slug":"pilgrims-families-and-young-cricketers-what-we-know-about-the-missing-australians-in-nepal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871426\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrims, families, and young cricketers: What we know about the missing Australians in Nepal"},"content":{"rendered":"

As families across Australia<\/a> wait anxiously in the aftermath of devastating flash floods across Nepal and Tibet<\/a> to hear back from loved ones, the number of those missing continues to rise.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed the number of missing Australians has risen to 39, up from 35 on Thursday, though one Sydney local has managed to contact her family to confirm she is safe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Uday and Kripa Shivamurthy are missing after floods hit a Nepal-China border crossing point.\u00a0Navya Nataraj<\/p>\n

\u201cThe extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

She also confirmed that Australia will send personnel to aid the recovery effort in the next 48 hours.<\/p>\n

The official death toll has risen to 469 people, according to the Nepali Police<\/a>, and more than 1400 people remain missing in the disaster zone.<\/p>\n

What we know about the missing Australians<\/p>\n

Amid the tense wait, there was a major sigh of relief for one Sydney family on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Cara Severino, 26, made brief contact with her parents to confirm she is safe. She had been hiking the Langtang Trek when the disaster struck and managed to reach the town of Gosainkunda alongside a group of Nepalese hikers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that they are attempting to reach Kathmandu on foot,\u201d her parents said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara Severino, 26, made contact with her parents on Friday morning while hiking in a disaster struck region of Nepal.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cWe praise God that she has been able to make this brief contact with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In total, 32 of the missing Australians<\/a> were participating in organised tours: 15 with Himalayan Glacier Adventure and Travel Kailash Group, six with Kailash Journeys, and 11 on a pilgrimage with the Isha Foundation.<\/p>\n

The affected groups included international<\/a> travellers alongside local staff.<\/p>\n

Among the unaccounted-for Australians are two teenage brothers, Aarush and Ashwin Muralitharan, aged just 11 and 14.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aarush and Ashwin Muralitharan remain unaccounted for in Nepal.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

It was learned on Friday that the siblings have been travelling with their parents as part of a 15-person Australian contingent on a Himalayan Glacier tour.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s neighbours, Sam and Shy Ghosh, told 9News that unread text messages to the boys\u2019 parents, Chandrasekara and Shylaja, are keeping them awake at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel that if they reached higher ground, someone will be there to rescue them. Until that time, I won\u2019t give up hope,\u201d Shy said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, fears are also growing for Michael Keats, a hiker from Mollymook on the NSW South Coast, who also remains unaccounted-for.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis whole family is very concerned,\u201d friend Jamie Lepre told 9News.<\/p>\n

Melbourne couple Sandeep Mohapatra and Sidharthi Kumari Sahu, who moved to Australia in 2018, were last tracked to an immigration centre near the Nepal-China border, according to Nine newspapers, and have not been heard from since.<\/p>\n

Their friend Manu Nayak said the pair had been travelling in the area before communications were lost.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Keats, from NSW\u2019s south coast, also remains missing following the devastating flash flood.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

He told called the situation was \u201cextremely challenging and difficult\u201d.<\/p>\n

Among the missing pilgrims is Melbourne father\u00a0Kumar Sampath, 61, whose son told the Sydney Morning Herald he is a \u201chardworking, successful entrepreneur\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He] came to Australia with nothing and provided his family with everything they wanted,\u201d Kumar\u2019s son Mani said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved hiking, nature and recently retired and wanted to explore his faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those caught in the same border zone are Sydney<\/a> couple Uday and Kripa Shivamurthy, who were returning from a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kumar Sampath ran an engineering business specialising in railways before his retirement. \u00a0The Age<\/p>\n

Their niece, Navya Nataraj, told CNN the regular trekkers last sent photos and videos at 9.05 am while waiting to cross into Nepal, just 10 minutes before the flash floods struck.<\/p>\n

Nataraj described the family as distraught, though the couple\u2019s two young-adult sons are holding on to hope.<\/p>\n

She emphasised the critical urgency of search efforts, noting that recovering their parents\u2019 bodies is essential for the family to perform traditional Hindu last rites.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019re all I have\u2019: Families fear the worst <\/p>\n

Umesh and Krishnam Sharma\u2019s son Chitrak Sharma told 9News on Thursday that his parents headed to the country for a pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

The pair is also among the missing Australians. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very excited that they got the opportunity,\u201d Chitrak said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Umesh and Krishna Sharma were taking a pilgrimage to Nepal.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hadn\u2019t started yet. Last I knew, they were at the border. I\u2019ve just been trying to get in contact with them … trying to get updates on their whereabouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been calling\u00a0hospitals. I just want to find my parents. They\u2019re all I have, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chitrak dropped his parents off at the airport last week. The last time he spoke to his mother was two days ago, right before the mountain collapsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said bye to them and I didn\u2019t think it was the last time I was ever going to see them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would do anything just to bring them home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chitrak<\/p>\n

Chitrak dropped his parents off at the airport last week and told 9News he is desperate to hear from them.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

The Sharma\u2019s were travelling with close family friends, the Iyers: Sreedharan, 52, Lakshmi, 50, Rishab, 23, and Rudhra, 20.<\/p>\n

It was their first time undertaking the sacred Hindu pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up together, and the fact that we\u2019re uncertain of where they are or how they are is really, really scary,\u201d Chitrak said. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Iyer family also remain unaccounted for while a Himalayan Glacier tour.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

The West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club confirmed the Iyer brothers were members.<\/p>\n

\u201cRishab and Rudhra Iyer are talented cricketers and long term valued members of our club,\u201d operations director Ross Anderson told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

Anderson said they were holding out hope the brothers and their parents would be found safe.<\/p>\n

Brisbane father-of-two Narayan Panthi was also on tour with them and his family friend, Amrit Bhusal, told 9News they have been trying to get in contact with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to contact his family and friends over in Nepal,\u201d Bhusal said.<\/p>\n

The Iyer family from Sydney have put together missing posters to be plastered around the disaster zone in the hope that someone on the ground finds them.<\/p>\n

Many of the missing Australians were travelling through the rugged border region as part of a sacred 10-day pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a journey revered for offering spiritual salvation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As families across Australia wait anxiously in the aftermath of devastating flash floods across Nepal and Tibet to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-871426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871426","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=871426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}