‘She’s a fighter’: Family clings to hope for SA woman missing in Nepal floods

Johannesburg – Families of six South Africans missing after devastating floods swept across the Nepal-Tibet border are anxiously awaiting answers as rescue teams battle difficult terrain, damaged infrastructure and the sheer scale of the disaster.

The six South Africans were reported missing after an ice-rock avalanche and glacial collapse triggered a surge of water, mud and debris near the Nepal-China border on Wednesday, 26 August.

According to IOL, humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers is preparing a specialist search-and-rescue operation and has placed a second team on standby while remaining in contact with the families.

Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said the organisation had already engaged Nepalese authorities over a possible deployment.

“Gift of the Givers Head of Search and Rescue, Ahmed Bham, was included into a Nepalese Government emergency meeting yesterday,” Sooliman said, adding that officials had expressed particular interest in the organisation’s K9 search capabilities.

“We have put a second search and recovery team on standby. We are aware that the Nepalese government has sufficient medical capacity, but we are ready to provide medical teams also,” he said.

Families hold on to hope

The missing South Africans have been identified as Terricia Govender, 33, from Isipingo Beach; Bavikaben (Bhavika) Ramjee, 43, from East London; Ladysmith couple Vivaganathan Pillay, 66, and Janet Pillay, 56; and Ladysmith couple Surendranath Maharaj, 74, and Anitha Devi Maharaj, 67.

Govender’s mother, Linda Govender, told Daily Maverick that the family was struggling to process the disaster but remained hopeful that her daughter would be found.

“She’s out there and she’s very strong. She’s a great thinker, you know? She’s a fighter,” Linda said. “I’m hoping that she will do whatever it takes to actually survive this.”

Terricia had travelled with the Isha Foundation on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route and was last known to be in the town of Kerung before communications were lost. Her mother said she had spoken to her daughter for about four hours on a video call on the day of the disaster.

Search hampered by dangerous conditions

The scale of the disaster has made the search particularly difficult. eNCA quoted Sooliman warning that the search for the six South Africans was being complicated by the possibility of another major disaster.

“There is one other great risk. The dam in the area on the Nepal side of the border: there’s a fear that it’s filling up and the dam wall is going to crack,” he said.

“So until all that fear is gone and the risk is gone, it’s going to be very difficult to actually search for six South Africans among thousands who are missing.”

The wider disaster has left thousands of people missing and hundreds dead. Associated Press reported that by Saturday rescue efforts had entered their fourth day, with authorities continuing to find survivors and evacuate people from devastated areas.

The report said that the combined death toll in Nepal and Tibet had risen sharply, while more than 3,000 people remained missing. More than 3,700 people had been rescued in Nepal.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the government had mobilised all available resources for the rescue and recovery operation.

“This is currently our national priority,” Khanal said, while noting that steep mountains and narrow gorges were hampering rescue efforts.

The Nepalese government has sought specialist assistance for tunnel rescues, survivor-detection technology, forensic and DNA analysis, while rescue teams from India and China have also been deployed or are expected to assist.

Gift of the Givers said its specialist team, including SAPS dog handlers, was preparing equipment in Johannesburg and remained ready to deploy if formally requested by Nepalese authorities.

For the families of the six missing South Africans, however, the priority remains finding their loved ones amid one of the region’s worst recent disasters.