Face of the Day

A close friend has confirmed missing New Zealander Dejan Kuzmic was part of an Isha Foundation pilgrimage group inside the Gyirong immigration building when it was hit by a catastrophic flash flood in Nepal.

Kuzmic, who recently turned 44, was among 77 pilgrims returning from a trip to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar.

The group remains missing after the disaster on the Nepal-China border killed about 750 people, with more than 3000 still missing.

Alicia Gimelfarb, Kuzmic’s flatmate, said the pilgrimage was a dream he had been planning for several years.

“I met Dejan through school,” Gimelfarb said.

“We all went to Selwyn School,” she said. “He was best friends with my husband’s brother.”

Gimelfarb said Kuzmic had completed the pilgrimage and was passing through customs at the Gyirong immigration building when the flood struck.

“He’d pretty much done everything he’d needed to do over there when the Gyirong Customs building was just swept away within a matter of seconds,” she said.

Gimelfarb said the Isha Foundation had confirmed the group was at the immigration building about 10 minutes before the floods hit.

RNZ