MUMBAI, July 3, 2013: As the Uttarakhand disaster shadows continue to lengthen, children of a missing couple from Goregaon have returned weary and disappointed after a futile search spanning a week. They have filed a missing persons' FIR in Dehradun and hope for the best.

The three sons of Harilal and Lilavati Soni, who went missing in Kedarnath, are aware that this pilgrim town bore the brunt of nature's fury. Sanju, Raju and Sushil learned that the United Nations put the number of missing at 11,000 on Tuesday. That coupled with the fact that the rescue operation in Kedarnath ended last week has caused the siblings' morale to flag.

Harilal (54) ran a shop near Riddhi Siddhi Garden in Gokuldham and Lilavati (52) was a housewife. The couple took the Char Dham yatra with six extended relatives from Uttar Pradesh, all belonging to Lilavati's family. "I last spoke to my mother on June 15. They were to start for Gaurikund the following day. We tried to call them all day but assumed the cell phone network was low on the hilltop. We panicked on June 17 when we got news of flash floods," said Sushil. "My cousins reached Dehradun and I joined the search."

Sushil left on June 21 for Dehradun, where he joined families of missing pilgrims. "I remained near Jolly Grant airbase, showing my parents' pictures to rescued tourists, hoping someone would recall them being stranded somewhere. People were so traumatized they could not identify photos. Others said the group was on the way down but no one came," he said. Three days later, he moved to Rishikesh on hearing that busloads of rescued pilgrims were arriving. It turned out to be a false lead.

Sushil returned home on June 28 after filing a missing persons' report with the local police. "I scoured hospitals in Hrishikesh and Dehradun. The state government did not coordinate operations well," he said.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 3, 2013.