Indian-origin New York teen and her mother among Americans missing in Nepal: Rashi wanted to do a solo Hindu pilgrimage

New York mother-daughter Rekha and Rashi are missing in Nepal. (Photo: CNN/Shekhar Agarwal)

54-year-old Rekha Shashidharan and her daughter 14-year-old Rashi Shashidharan, both from New York, are on the list of 90 Americans missing in the devasting landslide and flood in Nepal. Family members called every helpline number but there is no information about them yet. They are hopeful that the mother-daughter duo are probably somewhere safe.Shekhar Agarwal told CNN from Mumbai that his niece Rashi, an eighth grader, had originally planned to the Hindu pilgrimage solo and had been very excited. Rashi’s mother, Shekhar’s sister, Rekha eventually decided to accompanied her so that Rashi would not be travelig alone. Now both of them are missing.Agarwal said as far as he knew, the mother-daughter had spent a few days in Kathmandu to acclimate to the higher altitude of the Himalayas, before continuing north toward the Chinese border with the tour group. Agarwal last spoke to them on Wednesday 7.30 am (local time). They said they were planning to go the immigration checkpoint around noon that day before crossing into Tibet.Within an hour of their conversation, the glacier broke and brought the devastating flood devastating towns and villages on the riverbank.“After that, there was radio silence, nothing, no contact whatsoever,” Agrawal said. He thinks the mother and daughter may have still been in their hotel at the time.“Whatever (phone) numbers the internet or television or friends are giving us, we are trying to contact them,” Agrawal said. Many numbers provided for those seeking information about loved ones didn’t even work; and the ones that did work had no information to offer.Agarwal said the situation makes him feel helplessand he can’t do much apart from hoping that his sister and niece are probably safe somewhere. “We are hoping for the best because these kinds of things have happened earlier also, and we have seen cases where people have walked after three days, four days, five days,” Agarwal said. “Right now, the only thing that you can do is be hopeful.”