Malaysia is using trekking registrations and phone data to pursue 54 Malaysians still missing after the Aug. 26 Rasuwa disaster, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said, according to The Straits Times.
Hasan addressed the issue at the Dewan Rakyat on Oct. 22 after Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah asked about the status of Malaysians who could not be reached, the report said.
Hasan put the broader number of people still missing at 5,285. The count included 636 foreign nationals from 34 countries, among them the 54 Malaysians, he said.
The embassy in Kathmandu is working with local authorities, municipal officials and trekking posts where hikers register, Hasan said. He said most of the Malaysians were thought to have been on the disaster-affected route, based on registration entries and their last-known phone signals.
Malaysia's Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) operated in Nepal from Sept. 5 to 11 with nine high-powered drones, Hasan said. Nepalese authorities approved the deployment, while steep slopes and hard-to-reach areas constrained the team's search, he said.
Hasan said Nepal had ended its rescue phase and moved to recovery. He said Malaysia would continue efforts to locate the 54 for as long as it remained possible.
