Prayer vigil being held for Hamilton man missing in Australia
Family members and friends are urging members of the public to come out to a prayer vigil for a missing Hamilton man.
The vigil is being held in response to the continuing search for Prabhdeep Srawn, 25, who went missing in Australia's Snowy Mountains ten days ago.
Srawn hasn't been heard from since parking his rental car on May 13 in the village of Charlotte Pass in Kosciuszko National Park. The car was found that same day and police say they believe he got lost in the freezing conditions.
Srawn, a "born and raised" Hamilton native according to his cousin Ruby Singh-Sahota, has been studying law at Bond University in Australia for the past two years. His family moved to Brampton in 2012.
Members of his family have travelled to Australia to urge officials to increase search efforts by calling in the military, which emergency officials are currently refusing to do.
Srawn has 'very good survival instincts'
"They're very tight-lipped about their operations on the ground and they haven't been briefing the family very well," said Singh-Sahota. "They don't have the resources, apparently, to find him quick enough."
Srawn was a Canadian Forces reservist from 2005 to 2011, belonging to the 31 Service Battalion's Hamilton Company. This training, according to Singh-Sahota, gives him an advantage surviving in the wild, but it doesn't completely protect him from severe weather conditions.
"Every minute is so crucial and the weather is getting worse," said Singh-Sahota. "Although Prabh is a very smart guy, and we know he has very good survival instincts, and if anybody can hold on, it can be him … but it's been ten days now."
Srawn's family is trying to push the Australian government into increasing rescue efforts but so far, they have not been successful. Concerned citizens are chiming in, using Twitter to increase awareness of the search for Srawn.
"Our main plea is for them to deploy more manpower so that we can increase the chances of finding him quicker," said Singh-Sahota.
The prayer vigil is being held tonight (May 23) at 6 p.m. at the Ontario Khalsa Darbar, popularly known as the Dixie Gurdwara, located at 7080 Dixie Road in Mississauga.