Emergency work in Nepal (file)
Emergency work in Nepal (file)Reuters

Patrick Assaraf, father of 22-year-old Or Assaraf who is still missing after last week’s devastating earthquake in Nepal, said Friday that he remains cautiously optimistic that his son will be located.

Assaraf, who left for Nepal earlier this week with some of Or’s friends to help search for his son, spoke to Channel 2 News hours after the first helicopter was sent to search for Or.

"I continue to maintain a cautious optimism as long as it is not proven otherwise, that he is healthy and alive,” said Assaraf, who also acknowledged that “it would be very difficult to survive for a long period of time without supplies and possibly with injuries. That is why it is important find him and rescue him. Helicopters are the name of the game.”

“I ask all those who can influence the decision-making to increase the number of helicopters, to increase the numbers of flights. Or is the last missing person and the last person with whom no contact has been made,” added the concerned father.

Assaraf, a discharged soldier from the Lehavim unit, fought and was wounded in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

According to the information held by the family, the earthquake caught him during a post-army trek in Langtang. "We heard that a man who said he saw Or, and there were several such stories but everyone who saw him, saw him before the earthquake," his mother Orit said this week. "We don't know what happened afterward."

The search for Or was stopped after dark on Friday night, but the efforts are expected to resume in the morning.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)