Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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(April 17): The wife of Malaysian trekker Dennis Lee Thian Poh who has been missing for 12 days is struggling to hold on to hope.

Jennifer Peters made fliers with Lee’s picture with an offer of a reward to be distributed to local Nepali villagers. She also wrote to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak asking him for help.

She was quoted by a report posted on a blog 'Goats and Soda' as saying that she was desperate and felt that her world was crumbling.

Jennifer  flew to Nepal soon after being notified of Lee’s disappearance. She and other family members are based in Pokhara.

The family is hoping that that rescuers will find him in time to celebrate his second wedding anniversary tomorrow, said a friend.

"Dennis (Lee) and his wife Jennifer will be celebrating their second wedding anniversary on April 18 and the family hopes very much they will be able to celebrate it together," said the friend.

Lee, 47, was last seen on April 5. The father of two was travelling with a group of trekkers from Khopra Danda to Deurali and the group was said to have reached the highest point of their trek.

They were on their first day of descent when the businessman went missing.

Lee, an avid and fit hiker, has a black belt in taekwondo. In his day-pack, he had a warm winter jacket, about 2 pints of water, a knife, a compass and some muesli, according to the report.

The guide only reported Lee missing to the authorities and his family after a 48-hour futile search.

Yesterday, the search and rescue effort, led by a 10-man team from SAR Dogs Nepal, was joined by 45 Nepal Army personnel, including abseiling specialists.

SAR Dogs Nepal said the search was dangerous for their team and the Nepal army abseil teams who have to climb up and down rocks and steep ravines in the operation.

“We hope for a good outcome,” SAR Nepal said through its Twitter account today.

It also mentioned that the dogs Bilbo, Kelly, Uttam and Aldo had done a good job in marking where Lee had gone off the trail.

The SAR Dogs Nepal, headed by Karna Dura, a 29-year-old fine arts major from the village of Lamjung in the nearby hills, identified four spots where Lee was.

According to the report, one spot is a boulder, marking Lee's last location on the main trail halfway to Bayali. The team is using Dennis' boots, sleeping bag and clothes that the porters were carrying to give the dogs his scent.

But large boulders below this site, combined with heavy fog and rain, make it impossible for the team to see down the ravine. Abseiling is the only way down the gorge, and the army arrived on Thursday with professional abseilers to assist.

According to the report in the blog, Lee managed to make a call, but it never went through. Rescuers traced the call's location, but made a mistake at first, which delayed the identification of the general area where he had disappeared.

The day before Lee disappeared, he had contacted his wife in Kuala Lumpur. They talked about the cold weather in Nepal’s Annapurna range and the dinner of vegetable fried rice in his small lodge.

According to the blog Lee told the eight other trekkers in his group that he was going to walk ahead of them, catch up with their porters and then meet up at lunchtime, but he never arrived at the meeting point.

"He has always wanted, for the longest time, to go to Nepal," Jennifer was quoted saying in the blog.

She said that Lee had second thoughts about the trekking as he was uncertain about leaving her to juggle her job and his two teenaged daughters from his earlier marriage, one of whom has autism.

Jennifer told him to not worry as she and the girls would be fine.

The Malaysian Embassy Charge d'affaires Fadli Adilah told the Malaysian Insider in an email today that the embassy met with Nepal's Inspector General of Police despite it being a public holiday due to the demise of a former prrime minister of Nepal yesterday.

The meeting, Fadli said, was to appeal to the Nepali authorities to keep seaching for Lee, as well as to convey appreciation and gratitude to the Nepal police and the government on their efforts and assistance in the search.

“Nepal police pledged to continue and give as much support as possible for our cause, but at the same time we need to also understand the constraints and reality – limited experienced personnel, tough weather and terrain conditions,” said Fadli.

He said as a matter of standard procedure, the police will continue with their investigation, and look for all possible clues and information in the search for Lee. – The Malaysian Insider

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