Liu Chen-chun CNA file photo

New Delhi, March 27 (CNA) Nepalese police have informed local stations and travel guides to help search a missing Taiwanese young couple who have gone missing in the Himalayas since March 3, a Nepalese police officer told CNA Monday.

Liang Sheng-yue (梁聖岳), 21, and his girl friend Liu Chen-chun (劉宸君), a freshman of National Dong Hwa University, arrived in Nepal in February, hiking in Tamang on Feb. 22. They last contacted their families in Taiwan on March 3. They were to call Taiwan again on March 10 but did not do so. Family members requested official help to find them on March 15.

The officer at Nepal Police Headquarters said helicopters have also been dispatched to look for the Taiwanese whereabouts from the sky, to no avail as of Monday.

On Sunday, a deputy chief of Nepal Police met with the family members of the missing young Taiwanese accompanied by Taiwanese officials based in India, the officer said.

With consent from the family members, Nepalese police have hired three guides to search for Liang and Liu on possible routes leading to Langtang Village where the two were supposed to meet up with their Taiwanese friends, according to the officer.

Meantime, Taiwanese officials in India have also contacted the Himalaya Rescue Association and Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal to help search and rescue of the two.

However, continued snow and occasional avalanches in the target areas have made it difficult to expand their searching, local travel agencies said.

(By Charles Kang and S.C. Chang)
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