An Australian father has chartered a helicopter and traced his wife’s last mobile phone signal in a desperate search for her after she disappeared during flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border.
Bhavin Patel, from Newcastle, travelled to Nepal after Reshma, who has two children, vanished when a torrent of water and debris swept through the region on 26 August. Nearly two weeks later, there has been no confirmed sign of her.
“She is my life,” Mr Patel told the Australian Associated Press.
Reshma was among pilgrims travelling with the Isha Foundation group, which included 80 people, 11 of them Australians, returning from Mount Kailash in Tibet when the disaster struck.
Mr Patel has visited hospitals in Kathmandu, examined lists of survivors and spoken to representatives of the Australian government and the foundation. He has also appealed to authorities in Australia, Nepal and China for greater assistance.
On 3 September, he hired a helicopter and used records showing where his wife’s phone had last connected to guide the flight. The aircraft was unable to land in the mountainous search area, and Mr Patel said he saw no rescue teams operating where he believed she might have been.
A surge of water and mud reached as high as 50 metres along the river, leaving a visible line on the landscape roughly a kilometre from Syabrubesi, a town close to the Nepalese side of the border. Roads and bridges have been destroyed, making helicopters the main way of reaching some of the worst-hit communities.
The Australian government has sent a 15-person disaster-response team to Nepal to use drones, mapping equipment and thermal imaging in areas considered too dangerous or difficult for ground crews. Mr Patel has urged the team to extend its search to the Chinese-controlled side of the border, where his wife is among six Australians listed as missing.
Chinese authorities say more than 2,300 rescue workers have been deployed and that hundreds of drone flights have taken place. China has not requested or accepted international assistance for its search operations, while Australian officials say they are continuing to seek information about the missing Australians.
Mr Patel is now exploring other ways to reach the remote area so he can continue the search with his brother. Their children remain in Australia as the family waits for news.
