Families of 55 missing Malaysians in Nepal attend closed-door Wisma Putra briefing

PUTRAJAYA: Family members of 55 Malaysians who remain missing following floods in Nepal arrived at Wisma Putra as early as 9am today for a meeting with government representatives on the latest developments in efforts to locate their relatives.

The closed-door meeting is expected to provide families with more detailed information on search, verification and victim identification operations, more than a month after the incident.

Representatives from the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), Malaysian Special Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART), police, Chemistry Department, National Registration Department (NRD) and Welfare Department are expected to take part in the meeting.

Today's meeting is the second following the government's first official engagement with the affected families on Aug 30, five days after the incident on Aug 26, although not all families were represented at the time.

On Aug 30, a closed-door briefing for the victims' next-of-kin and the collection of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples were held at Wisma Putra to assist in the identification of bodies found in Nepal.

The 11-member SMART team was sent to Nepal on Sept 5 and conducted ground searches and drone monitoring in areas approved and deemed safe by the Nepalese authorities before returning to Malaysia on Sept 14.

Wisma Putra had previously said the team's return did not mean efforts to determine the status of the 55 Malaysians had ended, with Nepalese authorities continuing search, verification and identification efforts, while Malaysia continued diplomatic engagement with the relevant authorities.

On Sept 22, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also conveyed the concerns and hopes of the victims' families to Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah and raised the need to establish an official mechanism to assist the families should the Malaysians remain unaccounted for.

The floods and debris flows on Aug 26, triggered by ice and rock avalanches in the upper catchment area of Lhende Khola in Tibet, were reported to have claimed more than 1,450 lives, while thousands more remained unaccounted for.