A week after the catastrophic Nepal-Tibet flood, 23-year-old Sarada Viswanathan is refusing to give up on her partner Rishab Iyer, also 23, who is still missing.
"It's been genuinely just hell for us," she told 7.30.
Mr Iyer was travelling with his parents and brother in Nepal on a Hindu Indian pilgrimage.
They too have not been heard from since last Wednesday.
"It's been really difficult just not having any answers and not knowing where they are, how they're doing, whether they need help, whether they're drinking water, whether they're eating. Are they injured?" she said.
Ms Viswanathan has set up a DIY search operation at her family home in north-west Sydney, scanning location tracking websites, clinging to any detail that might pinpoint the Australians.
"We all have them on Find My iPhone and Life360," she explained.
"The last location I have of Rishab is outside that hotel. The last location we have of his brother is slightly up onto the highway."
The Iyers were staying at the Royal Himalaya Hotel & Lodge, close to the river that flooded.
"We're just hoping that they managed to climb somewhere and they managed to escape and that they just are in a remote region that's blocked off and they're not able to get in contact with anyone," Ms Viswanathan said.
Other relatives of the Iyer family are already on the ground in Nepal and have been feeding back any scintilla of information to Ms Viswanathan.
But the disaster zone has been difficult to access on foot, and Ms Viswanathan has set up a petition to push the Australian government to send defence force personnel to help with the search and rescue.
Australia has committed $8 million towards sending aid supplies and has dispatched a crisis response team of 18 people, including consular staff and the AFP.
Ms Viswanathan believes the government should assist with on-the-ground patrols, helicopter searches and thermal drones.
"You never stop at anything to get your family back when they're missing. We appreciate all of the money and all the humanitarian aid that has been given. We're just hoping that we can get actual people there," she said.
Nepal has already knocked back offers of rescue assistance from foreign governments.
"The Australian government continues to offer search and rescue assistance to the Nepali authorities, but that offer hasn't been taken up," a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs told 7.30 in a statement.
"We are working with telecommunications companies to support Nepali search, rescue and recovery efforts, and assist us in ascertaining the location of those Australians who remain unaccounted for."
Ms Viswanathan and Mr Iyer have been friends since childhood and both became medical students in Sydney.
Mr Iyer was due to start a new job next year as an intern doctor at Gosford Hospital.
"My search will never end," Ms Viswanathan said.
Mr Iyer and his brother, Rudhra, 20, were keen cricketers and played for West Pennant Hills.
Their mother Lakshmi and father Sreedharan ran a childcare business and were well-loved in Sydney's Indian community.
John Kurian, 23, has been friends with Rishab since high school.
"We played cricket together since 2018 and we've lost four grand finals together," he told 7.30.
"So we've always joked around saying that we need to win another premiership. He has tried every season that he can. He's always our best player. He leads from the front verbally and with his bat and the ball."
Mr Kurian has joined Ms Visawanathan in her cause.
"I'm here because he's my brother. Rishab and Rudhra are my brothers, and Sreedharan and Lakshmi are also my mum and dad," he said.
"They are out there somewhere right now. Maybe they can't be reached … because they are stuck or the communication towers are knocked down. The least we can do is try and get more people out there to help."
The Iyer family was staying at the same hotel as another missing Sydney family, the Sharmas, who were all on the same pilgrimage tour.
The two families were close.
Chitrak Sharma, 23, was in Sydney when he heard about the disaster in Nepal.
His mother Krishna and father Umesh are still missing.
"The first thing I did was I tried calling. Of course, [I got] nothing.
"I tried calling someone else that I know was with them. No contact was able to be made. Still, I didn't take it too seriously because I mean, just what are the odds?"
Mr Sharma decided to fly to India and is now south of Delhi, where he is deciding whether to continue to Nepal.
"What made me take a flight here? It had been four days and no concrete news, and I figured I may have to head to Nepal very soon for any reason," he said.
"So that's why I'm basically on stand-by mode here in India with the rest of my extended family."
Mr Sharma remained hopeful but said he was prepared for the worst.
"I've thought about it, and just for assumption's sake I have brought some DNA samples with me. I brought hair in case, but I don't want to think too much about that right now," he said.
"My hope is that we find them safe and sound."
Amid their desperation, some of those related to the missing said they had seen racist comments on social media that denied their Australian identity.
"It's been quite disheartening to see a lot of racial comments towards the families that have gone, about 'they're not Australians'," Mr Kurian told 7.30.
"So for anyone that's been saying those things, they need to really have a deep look and reconsider what they're saying."
Mr Sharma said he had also seen racist comments and wished they would stop.
