'Please don't give up': Son's plea to find parent's missing in Nepal

Family of Sydney couple missing in Nepal after flash floods pleads for greater search efforts In short: The family of missing Sydney couple Chitra Venkatraman and Venkatraman Balakrishnan are pleading with authorities to intensify search efforts. The couple were on a spiritual tour with Himalayan Glaciers when flash floods swept through the Nepal-Tibet border last Wednesday. A relative of a Sydney family of four also missing in Nepal has asked the Australian government to send further specialist resources. The relatives of Australians still missing in Nepal are desperately urging authorities to intensify efforts to find people who remain unaccounted for after last week's deadly flash floods. Reports that a second Australian was found alive in Nepal on Tuesday afternoon have renewed hope for the Venkatraman family, awaiting news on Chitra Venkatraman and Venkatraman Balakrishnan, and relatives of Shylaja, Chandresekaran, Ashwin and Aarush Muralitharan. But each family said they were worried that one week after the natural disaster, attention was shifting from finding their loved ones, who they believe may still be alive. Akash Venkatraman's parents, Chitra Venkatraman and Venkatraman Balakrishnan, were on a spiritual tour with US hiking company Himalayan Glacier when the flood swept through the Nepal-Tibet border last Wednesday. The 22-year-old last spoke to his parents when they were about 15 kilometres from the Tibet border. From their Western Sydney home, Akash Venkatraman, his grandmother and 17-year-old brother anxiously wait for their much-loved "heroes" to be found alive. But Akash said he feared the world was moving on from the disaster, urging that the next few days of the search were critical. "If the attention deviates and the need for action to happen rescinds and the possibility that my parents … or anyone else could still be alive … they could either be injured, unconscious, hungry or thirsty," he said. Akash's uncle is in Nepal retracing the last known locations of his parents, engaging with the embassy and viewing the bodies of the deceased, but information was limited, he said. He asked Australians to write to their local MP or ambassador to continue momentum in the search for the living. "The worst possibility is not them passing away or not being found, the worst possibility is them sticking it out for so long and us giving up," he said. Lack of information Chitra's mother, Sita Swaminathan, urged authorities to find them "at any cost". "Because I am a mum … my inner feelings believe they are alive. All the people who have gone with them are alive," she said. "Maybe injured or somewhere, but they are alive. One hundred per cent alive." Ms Swaminathan said she was frustrated by the lack of information and feared her daughter was somewhere without food or water. "Please bring my daughter, son-in-law and all the persons who are gone with them. They should be alive, they should be safe, and they should come back to Sydney soon." Akash's younger brother Akshay, who is currently completing his Year 12 studies, said the week had been hard. Akshay described his parents as funny, caring and loving and said he too believed they were alive. "They're like heroes to us, they are our idols, I just can't believe what they're going through right now,"he said. "Please don't give up, just keep trying to find them." Sydney family of four also missing Vaishnavi Kowshikan's sister Shylaja Muralitharan was travelling with her husband Chandrasekaran and sons Ashwin, 14, and Aarush, 11, also on tour with Himalayan Glacier. Ms Kowishkan said reports that hydropower companies had been given the green light to assist in search efforts opened an opportunity for Australia to send further specialist resources to help on the ground. "We're really pleading with the Australian government: we don't want them to give up on our family," Ms Kowshikan said. "We don't want the searching to stop." Ms Kowshikan said she last spoke with her brother-in-law at about 8am Nepal time last Wednesday. The flood hit later that hour. She said every avenue must be taken to find those still missing. "Every time we hear a story someone's been found, we're genuinely so happy for them; it's a miracle, and it gives us so much hope," she said. "I think of my nephews, they have so much more to see, to live, to experience, and this just can't be the end." 'Working to do whatever we can' Himalayan Glacier previously said a group of 47 people, including 15 Australians, were still unaccounted for in the Langtang Valley. There are 42 Australians still missing in Nepal after the natural disaster. Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who is acting prime minister this week, told 7.30 on Monday it had been "difficult" to retrieve information about the Australians missing, including whether they had been compromised or had crossed the border. "There were at least three tour groups that have been reported in the media. And in addition to that, there were travellers who are not associated with any particular tour," she said. "We are working to do whatever we can and to provide any information we obtain." Ms Wong previously said the Australian government had offered search and rescue assistance.