Australian orthopedic surgeon Rhys Gray and his wife Janice are trapped in a village in the north of Nepal awaiting evacuation by helicopter one week after the 7.8 earthquake hit the mountain country.
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Dr Gray, 67, and his wife, from Wollongong, were travelling with friends on a 16-day trek run by Adventure Image on the Manaslu Circuit in north-central Nepal where the walking trails can climb to more than 4000 metres.
Their eight children and eight grandchildren waited for for five days without word after the quake struck on Anzac Day, with news of the rising death toll which latest estimates place at more than 6000.
Word finally came through on Thursday when their daughter, Jo Rawson received a text message to phone an unknown number.
When she called she managed to get through to her parents on Friday.
They told her they were trapped in the village of Lho (altitude 3000m) in the Manaslu Conservation Area.
"I spoke to Mum for about ten minutes yesterday (Friday) and she said they are okay. They have been trying to send an email for a couple of days but nothing has gotten through.
"They are staying in a teahouse in Lho, one of the few buildings that hasn't collapsed so at least they have a roof over their head.
"Mum said the majority of the buildings within villages collapsed straight away in the quake.
"They were in a smaller village when it happened. They said they were lucky that they had just finished a long day of walking because the quake caused landslides and damage to the track behind them.
"They had to walk onto Lho because they had no communication where they were. It was rough going due to landslides and boulders that blocked the trail.
"She said they were walking past villages where all the buildings had collapsed and the people were living out in the open.
"Now they can't go forward and they can't go back. They are waiting for a helicopter to get them out of the area.
"Mum said they hoped they would have been picked up the day before (Thursday) but the helicopter didn't arrive."
Miss Rawson and her siblings have tried repeatedly to contact their parents again but have been unable to get through.
The family has managed to contact the offices of Adventure Image in Kathmandu where the company is working with the Australian Embassy to co-ordinate evacuation by helicopter and then a flight out of Kathmandu.
Ms Rawson said her parents were travelling with two friends from Wollongong, Robyn Fanning and Jenny Khalfan.
"They do a trek every year. In recent years this has included Switzerland, France, Italy and New Zealand," she said. "They do like to trek to adventurous locations. Hopefully they won't be as adventurous as this in the future."
Their daughter Emily posted on Facebook, "Manifesting positivity & strength for all affected by the earthquake in Nepal.
My parents are currently waiting for helicopter evacuation, they were 5 days into a hike when the earthquake struck.
We have been assured they are safe but unfortunately we can not say the same for so many Nepalese families with over 70,000 homes destroyed and 4000 lives already lost."
Mr William Tse, 85, of Strathfield also heard yesterday that his son Winston, 40, was safe and well after being reporting missing in Nepal after the quake.
"He sent a message to cousins saying that he was on his way to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore," Mr Tse said.
"He's very lucky. He always likes to climb mountains, in China, Japan and India. He climbs all the mountains. "Maybe this will stop him. I won't tell him to stop climbing. You can tell them it is dangerous but you can't stop them." SMH
