JOHANNESBURG - The search for six missing South Africans in Nepal is expected to be extremely difficult.
Gift of the Givers’ Imtiaz Sooliman said their last known location was near areas affected by the floods,
either on the Nepalese or Tibetan side of the border.
But dangerous conditions are preventing rescue teams from moving freely.
Heavy rain, rising water levels, landslides and the threat of further glacial activity are all hampering the search.
"But the issues we don't know if the floods, how strong the floods were on the other side of the border.
“So since that period, from when we got the information on Thursday, there has been no contact. There is no functioning phone. There's no information, nothing. So we're not sure where they are.
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“In terms of the young lady, the 33-year-old lady, the governor lady, as well as the Ravji lady from East London, they were also somewhere in the region. But again, through the two operators, the family doesn't have a clear indication of where they were.
“What we do know is that all six were close to the area where the floods were, either on the Nepal side of the border or the Tibet side of the border. So right now, nothing can be done because the search and rescue teams can't move freely. The water levels are high. It's still raining.
“There's still the fear of more glaciers coming down. There's a fear of landslides and mudslides. The Chinese government is not allowing any movement on the Tibet side because of these risks.
“But 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 and they're going to have a secondary major catastrophe like what they had on Wednesday. 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."