Nepal Flood Missing Count Tops 1,900 as Families in Virginia, Sydney and Brisbane Wait for Word

Since Nepal's disaster management authority reported a death toll past 470 and a barrier lake halting rescues on the Chinese side on Thursday, both numbers have grown sharply. Nepal's disaster authority said Friday that at least 584 people have been confirmed dead and more than 1,900 remain missing, according to The Guardian. That missing figure jumped in large part because officials added 933 workers from hydropower projects on the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers who had not previously been counted.

The disaster is now defined by individual families waiting on word from Kathmandu, Beijing, Canberra and Washington.

Americans still unaccounted for

Ten men from Northern Virginia, five of them from Loudoun County, remain missing after they were swept up in the flooding while trekking toward Mount Kailash in Tibet with a local guide and two support staff, according to The Independent. Sneha Sudhir, whose husband is among the group, told Fox 5 the last contact she had was a photo of his Nepal exit visa sent Wednesday morning as the flooding intensified.

"We are trying to be able to reach their cell numbers. Nothing is coming up," Sudhir said. "It's been difficult. I'm pretty sure 10 families, nobody has heard anything."

The wives of the missing hikers have formed a support network while they wait, Sudhir said. Families have reached out to the embassies of Nepal, China and India, along with Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, The Independent reported.

The Virginia group is part of a wider pool the U.S. government has flagged. The Independent reported roughly 90 U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for, while the State Department has said it is not aware of any American deaths and that three U.S. citizens have been rescued. President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that 50 or 60 Americans were believed to be in the region, though no exact figure has been finalized.

Australians and the first confirmed survivor

Dozens of Australians remain missing, including Karan Bhardwaj, a 40-year-old Royal Australian Air Force member from Brisbane who was traveling with Kailash Journeys, according to The Guardian. His family member, identified only as Jen, described him as "so desperately loved" and said the family is "desperately praying, hoping and believing that Karan is safe."

Also missing are Shylaja Muralitharan, 42, her husband Chandrasekaran, 47, and their sons Ashwin, 14, and Aarush, 11, who were on a Hindu pilgrimage with a 15-person group from Sydney trekking with Himalayan Glacier Adventures. Shylaja's sister Vaishnavi told The Guardian the family lost contact shortly after breakfast on the morning the flood hit, and that getting clear information from authorities has been difficult even after speaking with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials.

One bright spot: an Australian woman contacted her family Friday morning to say she had survived, the first person on Australia's missing list confirmed safe, The Guardian reported.

Nepali families search hospital wards

In Kathmandu, Al Jazeera reported that Loknath Chaulagain is searching for his 23-year-old nephew Sudarshan, a bus conductor who was at a border checkpoint in Timure when the flood struck. A call to Sudarshan's phone connected briefly at 9:54 a.m. local time that day, but he never answered, and the phone has been unreachable since. His family has been checking hospitals in Kathmandu, including Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, where posters of missing relatives now cover a wall.

The lake still threatening rescue crews

Chinese engineer Chen Hongqi told the state-run Global Times that unstable terrain at the source of the original glacial collapse, combined with narrow mountain passages and continuing rainfall, is complicating efforts to reach isolated communities, according to Breitbart's coverage of that interview. A swollen lake in the region, being monitored by Chinese authorities, threatens to overflow and endanger rescue teams working in the mud, Breitbart reported.

What's confirmed about the cause

The U.S. Geological Survey has settled the question of what triggered the disaster. After initially logging what looked like a magnitude 4.4 seismic event, the agency revised its finding: "Additional analysis of nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves, and satellite imagery led to the determination that the seismic event was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred," USGS said in an update cited by the Epoch Times. Fox News' earlier reporting, which cited Nepal's foreign minister Shishir Khanal suggesting an earthquake caused the ice-rock avalanche, reflects information from before USGS finalized that revision.

Where the response stands

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the department "stands ready to support the Government of Nepal with needed humanitarian assistance," and the U.S. has pledged $500,000 in emergency assistance along with a disaster response adviser, according to the Epoch Times. Whether that response scales up will likely hinge on how many of the roughly 90 unaccounted-for Americans, and the hundreds of other foreign nationals from more than 30 countries, are eventually found alive as rescue crews work against both the terrain and the threat of the swollen lake overflowing.

For the families in Loudoun County, Sydney and Brisbane, the wait continues without a firm timeline. Dhruva Yapalparvi, whose father is among the missing Virginia hikers, put it plainly to Fox 5: "We need as much help as we can get. So if word spreads, then I hope people will take action, and families can get rescued."