Family travels to Nepal to search for Bartlett woman missing in flood aftermath: 'Not losing hope'
ABC7 spoke with one of Poonam Thakkar's friends, who was supposed to be on the trip to Nepal and is now part of the effort in North America to help find her.
The family of a Bartlett woman missing after deadly flooding in Nepal has taken its search directly to the disaster zone, with one of her sisters arriving in Kathmandu to look for answers.
Gunjan Thakkar said her 42-year-old sister, Poonam Thakkar, traveled to the region as part of a Hindu pilgrimage near Mount Kailash. The family says they lost contact with her following the flooding and landslides and that she has since been officially declared missing.
According to the family, another of Thakkar's sisters arrived in Nepal on Monday and immediately began searching.
Before communication stopped, Thakkar sent what her longtime friend, Somali Raturi, described as one of her last video messages from Nepal.
In the video, Thakkar says, "Hello everyone, I am on the way to the border of Nepal and China."
Raturi said the last time she spoke with Thakkar was one day before the disaster.
"The last time we spoke was the day before the natural disaster on 25th of August," Raturi said.
Raturi said Thakkar shared videos from the trip, including scenes of the landscape she was visiting.
"She showed the place over a video, and a beautiful river running through the gorge, valleys," Raturi said.
The trip to Mount Kailash was years in the making.
"We were making plans for this spiritual pilgrimage for over two years, together with one of my other friends," Raturi said.
"It was our childhood, sort of, bucket list dream to be there," she said.
Raturi had planned to make the journey herself but said an injury forced her to cancel. She is now helping search for information from North America while Thakkar's family searches in Nepal.
According to Raturi, Thakkar's relatives wasted no time after arriving in the country.
"As soon as they landed, they left their bags in the hotel and then they went marching one place to another," she said.
The family says updates from government officials have been limited since Thakkar disappeared, leaving loved ones waiting for information.
Despite the uncertainty, family and friends say they have not given up hope.
"We are not losing hope. That's why the families get on the ground to find her and bring her back. And we have our hopes high that no news is great news. We will find something, and we will find them," Raturi said.
Raturi said someone answered when loved ones called Thakkar's Nepali phone a day after the flooding. However, because of a language barrier, they were unable to determine whether that person had any information about her.
The family says it is continuing to search for answers while asking for positive thoughts and prayers as efforts to locate Thakkar continue.
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