Thousands of kilometres away in Russia’s far east, some relatives are making plans to join the search in Nepal.
From Yakutsk, the brother of missing musician Kirill Tretiakov, said he would travel to Nepal within days.
“For the moment, we have no information about Kirill,” he told AFP. “We hope his group survived but ended up without any means of communication.”
Tretiakov was travelling with a group of Russian and Ukrainian pilgrims organised by the travel agency Tashi Delek.
“We will start our search with the hospitals. No matter how long it takes, we will keep looking for him.”
Another trek organiser Fishtail says it has lost contact with a group of 20 pilgrims, mostly Malaysians, who were travelling with guides and drivers.
“No one could escape, it was so sudden,” said Nimsang Gurung, a sales representative with the company.
As search efforts continue, officials fear the disaster will have a big impact on tourism, a major source of revenue for the country.
“The tourism sector is going to suffer from this disaster,” said Sunil Sharma of Nepal’s National Tourism Agency, even though “only four districts” were directly affected.