Australian seeks help finding boyfriend missing in Nepal floods

**Australian medical student urges tech firms to share data to locate boyfriend missing in Nepal floods**

SYDNEY, Australia – A 23‑year‑old medical student from Sydney is appealing to technology companies for assistance in locating her boyfriend, who went missing during the August 26 glacier‑collapse flood in Nepal.

Sarada Viswanathan, a final‑year medical student, has been trying to piece together the last known movements of her boyfriend, Rishab Iyer, and his family. Iyer, also 23, was traveling with his parents and younger brother on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash when a sudden glacier collapse released a torrent of water and debris near the Nepal‑China‑Tibet border.

The disaster, which struck on August 26, has killed more than 1,200 people and left over 4,200 missing, including 38 Australians. Iyer’s family was last seen near their hotel close to the border, about 30 minutes before the flood. Viswanathan says that the family’s phones were likely disabled by the flood, preventing any further contact.

Viswanathan has requested location data from Apple, telecommunications provider Optus and the tracking app Life360. All three companies declined, citing privacy and security concerns. In contrast, relatives of another member of the same tour group received information from Nepali authorities because that person had a local Nepalese phone number; the data indicated a phone signal farther north later that day. No similar data were available for people using Australian phone numbers.

“We’re all just scrambling to try and put the pieces together ourselves,” Viswanathan said. “I want authorities and companies to provide every available signal recorded after the flooding. The family’s location before the disaster is known, but no information covers the crucial period from roughly 30 minutes before the floods until now.”

Optus stated it could not comment on individual customers. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Life360 explained that only users within a person’s authorized “circle” can see the latest location based on phone‑tower signals, and that anyone outside that circle must obtain the information through local authorities.

Viswanathan has also launched a petition calling on the Australian government to deploy additional personnel to assist with the search. Australia has already sent drone specialists, consular officials, police and defense personnel to Nepal. On September 3, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced that Australia would share telecommunications data with Nepali authorities. Police officer Smriti Bhandari, who coordinates information about foreigners needing rescue, said that no Australian tourist had been rescued to date.

The case highlights the challenges of accessing real‑time location data in disaster situations and the potential role of technology companies in supporting search and rescue operations.

Article and image source: australianherald.com