Malappuram: A Malayali-origin Australian citizen from Ponnani and his family, who are among those reported missing amid the devastating floods in Nepal, had reportedly vacated their hotel in the Tibet border region as an emergency measure just two hours before the flash floods struck, raising hopes that they may have received an early warning about the impending disaster.
Sreedharan Iyer, 54, his wife Lakshmi, 49, and their two children, Rishab, 23, and Rudra, 20, have been uncontactable since the floods hit. The family, originally from Ponnani in Malappuram district and now settled in Sydney, had travelled to Nepal as part of a tour group operated from Australia.
According to Ponnani MLA K P Noushad Ali, who visited the family’s ancestral home near Thrikkavu Temple in Ponnani, information received from relatives suggested that the tour group had been alerted about the approaching danger and immediately checked out of their hotel in the Tibet border area.
“As per the information received by the family from the tour operator, the team got information about the upcoming tragedy from Australian High Commission sources. The group immediately vacated the hotel, which was located in the Tibet border area,” the MLA said. The reported emergency evacuation, just hours before the flash floods, has given relatives a glimmer of hope that the family may have managed to move to a safer location before the disaster struck.
The family was last reportedly in contact with relatives while they were in Rasu, one of the areas severely affected by the floods. Since then, repeated attempts to establish contact with them have failed.
Relatives from Ponnani and a relative of another Indian family in Bengaluru have been desperately trying to trace the families through multiple channels. A group of relatives from Bengaluru reached the affected areas in Nepal on Thursday and launched an aerial search by hiring a helicopter. However, the search has so far yielded no information about the missing family, said the MLA.
Despite the uncertainty, relatives remain hopeful that the family may have escaped to a secure location after receiving the warning and that the communication blackout in the disaster-hit region could be preventing them from contacting those outside, he said.
“We hope they were able to find a safe place after checking out of the hotel. The communication systems in the affected areas may have been disrupted, which could be why they are unable to contact their relatives,” the MLA said.
The search for the family is continuing through helicopters and other available means as relatives intensify their efforts to locate them.
The Kerala government has also intervened in the matter and is coordinating efforts to trace the family through the Indian High Commission in Nepal. Relatives have urged the authorities to intensify search and rescue operations and make every possible effort to locate the family at the earliest.
