Family of missing SA woman plans to go to Nepal to be closer to search efforts

As Nepal yesterday suspended search-and-rescue operations owing to bad weather and called for foreign technical help, the family of missing South African data analyst Terricia Govender were getting their travel documents in order in the hope of going to Nepal to be closer to the search for the 33-year-old.

Govender, from Isipingo Beach in KwaZulu-Natal, was among six South Africans reported missing after devastating flash floods swept through the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday.

The families of those missing are struggling with a lack of information coming out of the remote and badly damaged region, where communications infrastructure, roads and other access routes have been severely affected.

Terricia is thought to have been at the Gyirong immigration centre on the Chinese side of the border when the floodwaters struck. The building was reportedly hit by a surge of water as the disaster tore through the region. She had travelled to the area on a spiritual pilgrimage and was expected to return to South Africa on Friday.

We are grateful to be safe … but our hearts are heavy when we think about the devastation and the people affected — Sulosh Pillay, South African pilgrim in Nepal

Family spokesperson Sashin Maharaj said her family believed being closer to the disaster zone could help them obtain more regular information about the search.

“We just want to be there because it feels like we will be closer to her,” he said.

The family also hopes that being closer to the rescue operation will allow them to obtain more frequent and reliable information about Terricia’s whereabouts.

The department of international relations & co-operation (Dirco) has said it is keeping in contact with the affected families and authorities in the region.

However, Dirco spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said he was unable to provide a statement on the situation because there had been no confirmed information from authorities on the ground.

Travellers have been advised to postpone overland travel between Nepal and Tibet because of the dangerous conditions.

But the Govenders are weighing the risk of travelling against the helplessness of being thousands of kilometres away and waiting for news.

Gift of the Givers said yesterday its search-and-rescue teams were on standby but would only be deployed if the Nepalese government requested international assistance.

Surendranath and Anitha Devi Maharaj are among the South Africans reported missing in the disaster. (Supplied) Surendranath Maharaj, 74, and his wife, Anitha Devi Maharaj, 67, from Ladysmith, are also among the South Africans reported missing.

The couple were last known to be travelling on the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage route near the Nepal-Tibet border at Gyirong.

South African couple Vivaganathan and Janet Pillay are also believed to have disappeared during the floods in the Nepal-Tibet border region. (Supplied) Another South African couple — Vivaganathan Pillay, 66, and Janet Pillay, 56, from Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal — are also missing. The Pillays were travelling with the Alpine Eco Trek & Expedition group and are believed to have disappeared during the floods in the Nepal-Tibet border region.

Bavika Ramjee, 43, from KuGompo City was travelling near the border at the time of the flash floods. (Supplied) Also missing is Bavika Ramjee, 43, from KuGompo City in the Eastern Cape. She was travelling with Kailash Journeys and was last known to have been travelling near the border at the time of the flash floods.

Sulosh Pillay, from Mount Edgecombe in KwaZulu-Natal, and six fellow Mohanji Foundation South Africa pilgrims said they had crossed the Nepal-Tibet border route to Mount Kailash just three days before the disaster.

“When the reality of what had happened began to sink in, I broke down in tears. There was an overwhelming sense of helplessness,” Pillay told The Post newspaper.

“It reminds me how precious life really is. There is a mixture of deep gratitude and sadness. We are grateful to be safe … but our hearts are heavy when we think about the devastation and the people affected.”

Nearly 3,000 people are still missing — about 2,426 in Nepal and at least 554 in Tibet’s Gyirong County — including at least 540 foreigners, many of them Hindu pilgrims from India.

“Search-and-rescue operations have been temporarily halted because it is raining and the weather is foggy,” said Narendra Pariyar, the top bureaucrat for Nepal’s badly hit Rasuwa district.

The focus is on arranging land transport to move rescued pilgrims to Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, he said.

Authorities confirmed that some bodies now being recovered had decomposed beyond recognition. They would be buried after legal formalities had been attended to because of health risks and a fear of epidemics.

“DNA samples will be collected, and the bodies will be buried in an open space,” the Chitwan district administration said in a notice.

Authorities also briefly suspended rescue operations on Friday when a lake which formed across the Nepal-China border after the flood began overflowing into Nepal’s Lhende Khola and Trishuli rivers.

By yesterday, the risk of the lake overflowing had gone down, Chinese authorities said. Satellite images suggested the water in it had been slowly flowing through, lowering the levels of the reservoir gradually, state broadcaster CCTV reported.