THE FRIEND OF an Irish citizen who is missing alongside his wife, daughter, and son has said that it is believed that they were most likely inside an immigration building that was flattened in the disaster.

Mahadev Semwal has been best friends with Santosh Sahu (46) for the last 15 years. They met working in John Lewis in London, where Santosh and his wife Surhabi (44) moved following a long stint living in Ireland, where their son Spandan, who is 18, was born.

The couple – who are originally from India – were travelling in the region with a tour group with their son and their 13-year-old daughter Syna at the time the disaster struck.

The entire family is now amongst over 3,000 people who remain missing following the flash floods in the Himalayan region. Around 750 people have been confirmed dead.

Semwal told The Journal that he has been working alongside Santosh’s brother, Muralidhar Sahu, who is in the process of travelling to Kathmandu to provide a DNA sample to authorities who are attempting to identify people’s missing relatives.

He says that they are hoping that the British and Irish authorities will play a role in assisting Muralidhar in identifying his brother’s family, as currently they are finding it incredibly difficult to get information and support.

In the five days since disaster struck, Mahadev and Muralidhar have been hit with continuous pieces of bad news in their efforts to locate Santosh, Surhabi and their children.

Now, they face the prospect that Nepalese authorities have started burying unidentified bodies in the disaster-hit Chitwan district – citing the deteriorating condition of the remains, and the risk of infection to people living in the area.

DNA samples have been collected, and a system will be put in place, so people’s remains can be exhumed later.

By providing DNA, Muralidhar hopes that the Sahu family will be identified in this way if necessary.

“We want closure now. Even if we got a DNA match for one family member, we wouldn’t know where all of them are. That will always stay with us,” he said.

Damaged houses on the banks of the Bhotekoshi River in Nuwakot, Nepal. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Mahadev explained that the day before the flash floods struck, the family travelled towards the Nepal-China border. On that journey, Santosh sent some videos showing blocked roads, which meant that they had to stay overnight in Timure.

In a voice note Santosh sent to Mahadev on the day before the floods, which The Journal has heard, he said:

“We were very close, but then a lorry got stuck outside Timure, so we got stuck as well. So it looks like we will have to stay tonight here.”

He then asked Mahadev for his “guidance” on how long to stay in different places once the family reached Tibet. In the clip Santosh is laughing.

Mahadev said that he has been told that the night before the floods, the family were “happy and comfortable” in a local guesthouse they opted to stay in.

Mahadev said that the company they travelled with have received information from a phone operator company that shows the last tracked movements of the Sahu family’s devices.

According to this information, he said, on the morning of the floods, he understands, the family were amongst 500 waiting to make their immigration entry through the Gyirong immigration building near Timure.

They were with 16 travellers on the tour together, and 4 Nepali staff members. They remained in line until 8.40am – the immigration office was due to open at 9 am.

Mahadev says that those attempting to track the families’ movements believe that they reached the Friendship bridge crossing, and continued towards the Tibet side.

“According to the GPS tracking information, the last recorded location was at 8:53 am on the Tibet side of the bridge,” Mahadev said.

A guide from the tour company told him that the first wave of flooding arrived in that precise area between 8.50 and 8.55 am.

Initially, Mahadev and others searching for the family hoped that there was a chance that they had managed to cross through the building before the wave struck.

He says that this information suggests that it is not the case. Both the building and the bridge were destroyed and swept away by the impact of the flood waves.

“Initially, we had a lot of hope that they’d crossed into Tibet… we got no information from the Chinese authorities, and this tracking information suggests that they were in the immigration building,” he said.

He added that Santosh was a successful entrepreneur and “full of life” as a person. 

“He was someone who actually tried to make the world a better place,” Mahadev said.

He added that 18-year-old Spandan, who was born in Ireland, had been accepted to study at Durham University, and that the family were “extremely proud”.

Speaking about Syna, his friend’s daughter, he said that Santosh was very proud of her too.

“She was just thirteen,” he said.

Mahadev says that the Irish authorities have played a role in supporting the family – and that Santosh’s brother may need more assistance from them as he works to try and ensure the family can be identified now.

“We are not getting any help from the British side, from the Government and other people, so we are just trying, we need help,” he said.

Santosh Sahu was the chief executive of Charac, a med tech company. He and his family lived in Co Wicklow for eight years in the 2000s. In this time Santosh also received an Irish passport, and the couple bought a house there. His wife and daughter had British citizenship.