KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is not letting up efforts to trace the 54 missing Malaysians following the Rasuwa disaster in Nepal, after the Nepalese government ended its search-and-rescue operations.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu was working with local authorities, trekking checkpoints and municipal officials to pursue any remaining leads.
He said information from trekking registration records and the victims’ last known phone signals indicated that most of the missing Malaysians were believed to have been along the route affected by the disaster on Aug 26.
“Although Nepal has ended its search-and-rescue operations and moved into the recovery phase, our embassy is still in contact with trekking posts and the local authorities.
“We will continue trying to locate them for as long as there is still room for us to do so,” he said during the Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Oct 22).
Mohamad was replying to a question from Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah (PN-Langkawi) on the latest status of Malaysians who remain uncontactable following the disaster in Rasuwa.
He said a total of 5,285 people were still classified as missing, including 636 foreign nationals from 34 countries. Fifty-four of them are Malaysians.
Malaysia had earlier deployed the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) to Nepal from Sept 5 to 11 after obtaining approval from the Nepalese authorities, he said.
The team brought nine high-powered drones, but the steep terrain and inaccessible areas limited search efforts.
Mohamad said the Malaysian mission in Kathmandu was continuing to liaise with trekking posts, where hikers are required to register, to establish the movements and last known locations of the missing Malaysians.
