The family of missing Durban woman Terricia Govender has shifted its search to Tibet after efforts to locate the 33-year-old in Nepal yielded no results.
Govender is among thousands of people who remain missing following devastating floods and landslides along the Nepal-Tibet border 28 days ago.
The disaster unleashed large volumes of water and debris across affected areas, killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands unaccounted for.
Govender was travelling as part of a pilgrimage group which, according to her friend Sashin Maharaj, may never have crossed into Nepal.
Maharaj and Govender's mother, Linda, travelled to Nepal to assist with the search and engaged with immigration officials while reviewing information gathered during their investigation.
Maharaj says the information they obtained led them to believe that Nepal may not be where the search should be focused.
“That helped us gather enough evidence to be comfortable that perhaps Nepal wasn’t where we were meant to be searching,” he says.
The family is now working with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to secure access to Tibet.
Maharaj says gaining entry to the region is more complicated than travelling within Nepal because Tibet is administered by China and requires special permission for entry.
Applications have been submitted through the South African Embassy in Beijing, which is engaging with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Govender family has also joined other families seeking access to Tibet through their respective embassies.
“We’re hoping collectively that it is seen as one,” Maharaj says.
For Govender’s mother, the priority is gaining access to the area where she believes her daughter could be.
She says she remains hopeful that Terricia could be on the Tibetan side of the border.
“Hope has no expiration date,” she says.
She is appealing to the Chinese authorities to grant the family access similar to that provided by Nepalese authorities, allowing them to continue their search and, if possible, bring her daughter home.
“We pray for Terricia wherever she is, together with everyone else,” she says.