Family worries for St. Albert couple still missing in Nepal
Macmillans last seen a day before quake hiking in Langtang Valley
Family and loved ones of a St. Albert couple unaccounted for in Nepal are holding out hope they will still be found alive.
It is believed that Kathy and Bruce Macmillan were nearing the end of a weeklong hike along a trail in Langtang National Park when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred around noon April 25.
The Langtang Valley, directly north of Kathmandu, was among the hardesthit areas, with buildings crushed by avalanches and roads blocked. All means of communication in the region have been cut off.
It is estimated at least 6,000 people died and 70,000 houses were destroyed in the earthquake, the most powerful to strike Nepal since 1934. Survivors are still being pulled out of the rubble.
“We don’t know exactly where they were,” Bruce Macmillan’s sister, Kandy Barker, said Thursday from Montreal. “We hope they are in a place that no (rescue workers) have got to yet.”
The couple was in Nepal as part of an extended trip during which they have also visited Cambodia, India, Thailand and Pakistan.
They were expected to meet their two grown sons in Kathmandu last Monday, but were last seen by a fellow trekker the day before the earthquake struck.
Bruce Macmillan, 62, is a retired forester. Kathy, 57, is a retired nurse.
Kandy Barker said the family has been in contact with Canada’s Medical Assistance and Disaster Assistance response teams, who have now reached the Langtang region.
“We’ll give these guys time and see where they get,” Barker said. If they aren’t found by Monday, the family will consider going to search for themselves, she said.
Frazer Macmillan, 30, was in Kathmandu waiting to meet his parents when the earthquake occurred. He has since been evacuated and is now in India with his brother Jay, 28.
Flyers have been distributed throughout the region with help from people on the ground in hope of finding a clue to the couple’s whereabouts. Both are incredibly fit, Barker said.
“They are super used to being in an unforgiving environment,” she said.
The Macmillans travelled to Nepal shortly after getting married 35 years ago, and returned as part of an anniversary trip. They were looking forward to meeting up with their sons but decided at the last minute to take a sevenday trek. mklinkenberg@ edmontonjournal.com Twitter@ martykej