A Melbourne woman in Nepal for a Mount Everest trekking expedition has been confirmed dead, among more than 3000 people killed in the massive earthquake.
Counsellor Renu Fotedar was among those who had been killed in an avalanche on the mountain. At least 19 people at the Mount Everest base camp were killed in the avalanche, triggered by the quake. Expedition leaders said an American, Australian and Chinese national were among the dead.
On her website, Ms Fotedar described herself as a transpersonal counsellor who had worked throughout India, the Middle East, Europe and Australia. She was the founder of life coaching provider Athena International.
Ms Fotedar, who lived in Melbourne, grew up in Kashmir, in India’s north.
In an interview with The Times of India, her cousin Ashish Kaul said Ms Fotedar had two children aged 17 and 15.
On her website, she wrote she was planning to be in Nepal for about two months for the Everest trekking expedition, before travelling to a conference in Romania in June.
Melbourne woman Renu Fotedar has been killed while in Nepal.
Tributes to Ms Fotedar were being posted on her Facebook page on Monday. “Rest in peace my dear sweet friend, you will be missed always,” read one post.
Authorities have confirmed more than 850 Australians in Nepal are safe, but hundreds more remain unaccounted for. Eighty Australians are reported to be camping on the grounds of the Australian embassy in Kathmandu.
At Mount Everest base camp, helicopter teams continue to evacuate scores of climbers injured in the avalanche but flights have been affected by the aftershocks which send more ice, snow and rocks down the mountain. Dozens more climbers remain trapped at camps on the higher reaches of the mountain.
Among the Australians anxiously awaiting news from the disaster zone is Michael Penson, whose 34-year-old son Blake is stranded at Mount Everest Camp 2.
“They can’t climb up and can’t climb down,” said Mr Penson, who spoke briefly to his son after the earthquake.
Queenslander Alyssa Azar, 18, who was attempting to become the youngest Australian to climb Everest, is safe but 20-year-old Zachary Sheridan, the younger brother of Packed to the Rafters actor Hugh Sheridan, remains missing.
The Australian government has sent a nine-person critical response team to Kathmandu to help trace missing travellers and has committed $5 million in aid to help the rescue and rebuilding effort.
The funds include $2.5 million to assist Australian non-government organisations, $2 million to support United Nations partners and $500,000 to support the Australian Red Cross.
Victorians Michael and Anna Headberry are still waiting to hear from their daughter Jordana Headberry, of North Balwyn. Mr Headberry said he had spoken to someone who had been travelling with his daughter and believed she was not in the hardest-hit area. “He said she was safe, but that is all relative,” Mr Headberry said.
With Beau Donelly, Megan Levy
This story first appeared in The Age
