Georgia family holds out hope for mom missing after Nepal-Tibet floods
A Georgia family is holding out hope that their mother will be found alive after she went missing amid catastrophic flash-flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border.
Mary Sorensen, who lives north of Atlanta, had traveled to the region on a spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, according to her son, Riley Wildeman.
"She was with a group called Isha that she does yoga with and she prays with and she meditates with," Wildeman told ABC News.
Wildeman said his mother was able to reach the mountain and complete an experience she had long hoped to cross off her bucket list before she went missing.
The journey, he said, reflected Sorensen's adventurous and spiritual approach to life.
"My brother likes to say that she walks to the beat of kind of her own drum," Wildeman said. "She's so able to find good in everything and find good in everyone and to enjoy every moment."
Wildeman said his mother had completed her pilgrimage and was beginning the trip back to Atlanta when the family last heard from her.
"The last thing that she sent to us was Tuesday morning, and she was on her way down the mountain," he said.
Sorensen was expected to pass through an immigration center before taking a bus to Kathmandu and eventually fly home to Atlanta, according to her son.
Wildeman said his mother told the family during their last text message conversation before going missing that she was looking forward to the long journey home because it would give her time to reflect on the pilgrimage.
"She ended that text by saying, 'I'm so grateful that you guys are my family,'" he recalled.
Wildeman said he remains hopeful it will not be the last message he receives from his mother.
"I have so much hope that she's there somewhere," he said.
Catastrophic flooding struck the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday morning, the day after the family's last text conversation with Sorensen.
Wildeman, a public school teacher, said his father called him at work after the organizer of Sorensen's trip contacted the family.
"There was really very little about where they were, about where the flood had hit, about how severe the flood was," he said. "And then all the news coverage and all the videos and all of the social media popped up, and so that's how we kind of understood the severity of the situation."
The flooding struck Nepal's northern Rasuwa district along the border with Tibet and was reportedly triggered by a landslide about 12 miles northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border post, according to Nepali officials. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing.
At least 955 people have died and more than 4,400 remain missing as of Monday, according to the latest updates from Nepali and Chinese officials. At least 85 Americans are among the missing as of Sunday, according to the U.S. State Department.
Wildeman said his family has reached out to the State Department, government agencies in Nepal and China, and others in hopes of finding Sorensen.
"We've called in every favor and every possible thing that we can call in," he said.
As they wait for answers, Wildeman said the family is leaning on the optimism and spirituality his mother has modeled throughout her life.
"We feel so much heartbreak and so much sadness and pain, like a deep, guttural pain," he said, emphasizing that the family is experiencing "the grief of the situation, not the grief of the loss."
Still, Wildeman says the family is holding out hope for a miracle.
"My whole family and my mom all believe in a God that does miracles, and that the miracle that we're gonna get out of this is gonna be something that we might not necessarily understand right now, but it's gonna be something that we look back on and we feel," he said.
Wildeman said his mother has described herself as "a spiritual being, having a physical experience," and that her outlook is helping guide the family through the uncertainty.
"If there's anything that she has done in her life, it is try to be a disciple, to show us how we should live, to show how we can handle heartbreak," he said.
Wildeman said he continues to hope for his mother's safe return.
"I absolutely hope that they find her and believe in my heart of hearts that that is not a out of the realm of possibility," he said. "Because if there's something else that she tried to instill in us is that you don't ever give up hope."
