SINGAPORE – When his wife went missing in the Nepal floods on Aug 26, he hoped that she would have somehow survived and return safely.
But Selvaganesh, who wanted to be known only by his first name, says he has since accepted that his spouse, Shalinny Deavy, is gone.
Said the 43-year-old: “There were many people who contacted me saying they believed she would come back safe. But I know she is gone. She’s not coming back.”
Shalinny, a State Courts employee, is one of nine Singaporeans still missing after the Nepal floods.
The 40-year-old was on a pilgrimage there and last spoke with Selvaganesh over the phone at around 9am on Aug 26.
She told him she was at the Gyirong Port immigration building and was about to cross the border into Tibet.
A viral video of the building being swallowed up by a raging torrent of water and mud as people tried in vain to run away has been viewed many times.
Selvaganesh said: “She was supposed to call me once she had crossed the border, which would have taken about four to five hours. But she never did.”
The 12-minute call was to be the last for the couple, who have been married for 10 years.
About two hours after the call, floods and landslides swept through parts of central Nepal and Tibet, killing more than 1,450 people and leaving over 5,000 missing.
That night, Selvaganesh struggled to tell their seven-year-old daughter about what had happened.
He said: “All I could tell her was that ‘Amma (mother) is missing’. I didn’t know what else to tell her.”
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