Malaysia Continues Efforts to Locate 54 Missing Malaysians in Nepal – Mohamad Hasan
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is continuing efforts to locate 54 Malaysians who remain uncontactable following the devastating floods in Rasuwa, Nepal, on August 26, despite the Nepalese government’s decision to end its search and rescue (SAR) operations.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu remains in contact with local authorities and trekking registration centres to examine travel records and the last known locations of their mobile phones for any new developments.
“Our embassy in Kathmandu is still making efforts to contact local authorities, centres and trekking posts where people register their movements.
“We will continue our efforts to locate them until we reach a point where there are no further avenues left for us to pursue,” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Mohamad was responding to a question from Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah (PN-Langkawi) regarding the latest status of Malaysians who remain uncontactable following the disaster.
He said that of the 5,285 individuals classified as missing and unaccounted for following the disaster, 636 were foreign nationals from 34 countries, including 54 Malaysians.
He said Malaysia deployed the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) to Nepal from September 5 to 11, bringing nine high-performance drones to assist SAR operations. However, the steep terrain and extensive damage caused by the disaster hampered the efforts.
According to Mohamad, the Malaysian government is working to obtain a special ordinance from the Nepalese government to shorten the period required to issue death certificates for individuals missing in the disaster from 12 years to 45 days.
He said the documents were important to enable next of kin to manage insurance claims, bank accounts and other official matters.
The government is currently reviewing the contents of the proposed ordinance to ensure it can be used to assist the affected Malaysian families.
On August 26, flash floods and landslides struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district and areas along the Nepal-Tibet border following heavy rainfall, damaging infrastructure and disrupting communications, making SAR operations difficult.
Meanwhile, Mohamad urged Malaysians travelling abroad to register their travel details, destinations and contact numbers through the e-Konsular application to make it easier for the ministry and Malaysian embassies to contact them in emergencies.
He said only slightly more than 6,000 individuals registered through the application throughout 2025, despite the number of Malaysians travelling overseas being significantly higher.
“e-Konsular serves as a database or information centre that enables the Foreign Ministry to communicate with Malaysians, particularly those residing overseas or travelling abroad for visits or holidays.
“When we have information about Malaysians, it becomes easier for us to communicate with them. Whatever information we need to convey or whenever an incident occurs, we can contact them, and they can also reach out to our embassies,” he said.
Mohamad was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BN-Tampin) regarding measures to increase the registration rate of Malaysians on the e-Konsular application.
BERNAMA