At least six Dubai residents are missing in Nepal, after a deadly 7.8 earthquake hit near the capital Kathmandu.
“I am super worried about the guys,” Shelton Rego, a friend of the six missing men, told The National. “I am just looking to spread the word that they are there, and we are desperate to hear from them and anyone who can help us get in touch with them.”
The paper identified the six as Dubai residents Thanweer Rawther, Hadil Haneef, Mohammed Azhar Ali, Mazhar Mohideen, Sunil Gandhi and Nihad Khan, and said the trekkers had posted a selfie just before the earthquake Saturday.
Their families have been in contact with the hotel the group was staying at and told the six were safe, but have not yet been able to speak to their relatives.
“We are not sure if it is really them or not,” Thanweer Rawther’s sister Thanzeem said, and the family has made desperate appeals on social media for news.
More than 3,500 people have been killed so far from the earthquake and a series of aftershocks. Thousands are being evacuated from Kathmandu and Mount Everest.
Five Lebanese tourists narrowly missed the quake, having left Kathmandu for Pokhara, Nepal’s second city, only days before. While they did not feel the first quake, they told Lebanon’s The Daily Star that they had felt a number of the aftershocks, including a 6.9 magnitude one Sunday afternoon.
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said it was working with around 20 other nationals to evacuate them from the country.
As the search and rescue operation continues, footage has emerged of a resulting avalanche hitting a base camp on Mount Everest.