The family of one of the 41 Australians missing in Nepal following devastating flash flooding say they are praying for a miracle after wrongly believing he had escaped the disaster unscathed.

Relatives of Michael Keats, who is from the south coast of NSW, initially thought he was getting ready to come home.

“Confusion around the timing of the floods initially led us to believe our beautiful Michael would be safe in Kathmandu, preparing to fly home,” the Keats family said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, it was confirmed relatively quickly by the Isha Foundation that Michael and his Kailash travel group had arrived at Gyirong port on the Nepal-Tibet border just 10 minutes before the tragic floods hit.”

Mr Keats’ family said their thoughts and prayers are with every person affected by the tragedy.

“We are praying for a miracle for our beautiful Michael, (he) is the most beautiful soul,” they said.

“He is gentle and kind, with a unique light that touches everyone lucky enough to know him.”

His sister, Karen Hayley, said Mr Keats was “a seeker, an adventurer, a truly beautiful soul.”

“He travelled to this sacred part of the world on a journey that held such deep meaning for him,” she told followers on social media.

“He is currently missing in Nepal and while our hearts are carrying the unbearable weight of not knowing, we are holding onto hope and praying for a miracle.

“Come home to us, Mike. You are loved beyond words.”

In a separate post, she revealed her family had gathered at his “happy place” in Sydney’s south.

A photo showed the family had created a vigil with photos of Mr Keats and candles.

“This is the most surreal experience of my life,” she wrote in a third post. “Michael is missing, not confirmed deceased yet the grief is already immeasurable.

“There is still hope and we are holding on to that with everything we have. But at the same time, my heart is trying to comprehend something it simply cannot.”

Of the 41 missing Australians, 22 were members of three separate hiking tours. Fourteen were travelling with US-based tour company Himalayan Glacier Adventures.

Many of the Australians in the region were on religious pilgrimages.

Nearly 3000 people in total are missing after flash floods devastated a mountainous region between Nepal and China, with authorities on both sides of the border intensifying rescue efforts. At least 626 people have been confirmed dead, while 2426 remain unaccounted for, including hundreds of foreigner, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said in a post on X.

China said its death toll stood at seven, with 554 missing, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The catastrophe was triggered on Wednesday by a glacial collapse that sent ice, mud, rocks and fast-moving water surging through a valley in Nepal, destroying entire settlements in its path.

Videos showed people attempting to flee as walls of water and debris swallowed buildings, tore down bridges and phone lines, and washed away trees, boulders and vehicles.

With rescue efforts entering a fourth day, Nepal has mobilised more than 15,000 military and police personnel on challenging rescue missions, including in settlements buried in sludge and at hydropower projects where workers have been trapped in tunnels.

The military has “intensified its operations” and “deployed special teams and is actively collecting bodies at a rapid pace,” the prime minister’s office said on social media.

Dozens of survivors were being treated at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.

The walls were papered with photographs of the dead and missing, while more than 60 people gathered in wait of news about their loved ones, registering individual details with police officials camped nearby.

“There is not much hope,” said Resham Tamang, 28.

He’s been coming to the hospital daily in search of five missing friends and relatives who had been working in Rasuwa, a district hit hard by the disaster. “It’s already been four days and there’s been no contact,” he said, adding that his calls to the affected area had not been going through.

Nepal has accepted Australia’s offer of $5 million in humanitarian aid which will go towards emergency kits of food and water, as well as supporting Australian rescue and recovery organisations.

Meantime, Karan Bhardwaj, 40, a Brisbane father and member of the Royal Australian Air Force has been identified as another of the Australians currently missing, alongside his friends Arpan Mithalal Kothari and Bhavin Raval.

They were travelling with tour operator Kailash Journeys when the disaster hit. “We’re desperately waiting for news and praying with everything we have that Karan is safe and will come home to us all,” his sister Jen Nai told the ABC.

Nava Pandey has been desperately seeking information about his wife Sumi Adhikari’s whereabouts since she embarked on an Isha Foundation pilgrimage to the region.

“Every hour matters,” he said.

Mr Pandey has flown from Sydney to Kathmandu yet still has no clear or official information about his wife or the other members of her group.

“Based on the CCTV footage that has emerged and their last known location in the Gyirong area, our most urgent request is for an immediate and thorough search operation in that location,” he said.

The husband of Newcastle mother Rashma Patel, 46, who has been missing since Wednesday was expected to land in Kathmandu yesterday and begin searching for his wife.

A friend of the family, Chin Valsan, said Ms Patel was about to finish her pilgrimage when the disaster struck and she had not been heard from since.

“He’s putting up a brave face for his kids but on the inside, he must be so distressed,” Mr Valsan told the ABC.

Ms Patel was one of 11 Australians trekking to Mount Kailash and checked in with immigration at the Tibet-Nepal border very shortly before the area was flooded.

Assistant Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said Australian DFAT officials are “working around the clock” and getting as close to the region as they possibly can.

“Yesterday, Foreign Minister, Penny Wong had a phone call with the Nepalese Foreign Minister to express our deepest sympathies to the people of Nepal and to offer Australia’s support,” he said.

“As a result, we’ve announced $5m worth of humanitarian aid to support the rescue and recovery and provide vital supplies to the affected communities and to ensure that Australia is doing its bit to help out.

“We’ve also been in touch with members of the Nepalese community here in Australia” Mr Thistlethwaite said. “The roads are cut off. About 50,000 homes have been destroyed. There is no telecommunications infrastructure to the region. Power has been cut off.

“So, our DFAT officials are getting as close as they possibly can to the region and we’re working with those Australians that we know are on the ground there, trying to locate their loved ones, to provide them with as much support as possible.”

Late on Friday, the family of a Melbourne woman shared one of the few pieces of good news out of the region; their daughter, Cara Severino, was safe, had managed to find a phone and would be trekking for multiple days back to Kathmandu.

The Nepal Tourism Board has been providing updates on the numbers of citizens of various countries who have been rescued; Indians, South Koreans, Chinese, Russians, Americans, Italians and a Bulgarian citizen have been saved.

As of late on Friday, no Australians had appeared on the salvation list.

Many of the most-damaged areas are now only accessible by helicopter.

While search and rescue operations, aided by Australian officials, are ongoing, charities have banded together nationally to raise funds.

The Australian Red Cross announced all donations to its global emergency fund from Thursday would go to Nepal, while World Vision Australia has launched a dedicated appeal. UNICEF is appealing for almost $24 million to fund its emergency relief and recovery efforts, including for the estimated 17,000 children affected.

Sharmina da Manandhar from UNICEF told the ABC the scale of the recovery efforts is “seismic” and international help is urgently needed.

“We are working very closely with the people of Nepal and doing everything we can to ensure children are protected, they have safe, they have safe water, they have the basic supplies, like hygiene materials that they require, so we are doing everything we can,” she said on Saturday.

Ms Manandhar described the situation as dire, and said dozens of people including women and children were sheltering inside one small school. “They are staying there. They don’t have anything. Imagine having to run for your life and you don’t have a moment to pick up anything that you require,” she said.

‘“They were just running for their life. They only have the clothes on their back, they don’t have anything.”

One of Asia’s poorest economies, Nepal faces a big reconstruction effort at a time when it’s also being squeezed by higher fuel costs, and weaker tourism due to the Iran war. The disaster has compounded the challenges facing the Himalayan nation’s 36-year-old Prime Minister Balendra Shah, who rose to power earlier this year on a wave of Gen Z disaffection.