Five members of the Nazir family from UK had gone hiking in the Blue Mountains terrain in Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) on April 4, 2022 when falling rocks caused by a freak landslide near the Wentworth Falls took the lives of Mehraab Nazir, 49, and his nine-year-old son Zain. Mehraab’s wife Anastasia and the couple’s 14-year-old son Zarhan are in critical condition in hospital. The couple’s 15-year-old daughter Ava received no physical injury.
Ava who dialled triple zero to report this tragedy had to be treated for shock by paramedics. Two helicopters and seven road crews were deployed for the rescue mission by NSW Ambulance, reported 7News. However, it was only the following day that the authorities managed to recover the bodies from dense bush land after navigating unstable ground. Weeks of heavy rain across NSW had resulted in the closure of several walking tracks at national parks "due to flood damage and ongoing rockfall risk,” reported 7News. Anastasia and Zarhan who were severely injured had to be sedated and required intubation prior to extricating them.
Blue Mountains in New South Wales Photo: Wikipediainset: Mehraab (l) and Zain Nazir
After undergoing surgery for head and abdominal injuries, they are in induced coma, an email from Zubin Appoo, president of the Australian Zoroastrian Association of NSW, intimated the community in Sydney on April 5. "A number of Sydney Zoroastrians are in contact with the family and are offering assistance in any way that is required,” he assured. Since the posts on the Worldwide Zoroastrians and Sydney Zoroastrians Facebook pages had generated considerable interest, Appoo further declared, "The global Zoroastrian community is a small and tight community. Tributes and support from the various Zoroastrian associations in Australia are flooding in. The Sydney Zoroastrian community respects the family’s privacy and stands by ready to provide any necessary support and care.”
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Police contacted Mehraab’s parents Mahrukh and Minoo who reside in Kent and arranged to fly them down to Sydney. The World Zoroastrian Organisation announced the zoom links to the four-day and 10-day funerary prayers for Mehraab and Zain. The Nazirs are reportedly amongst the oldest families from Nagpur.
Based in Singapore, Mehraab was a partner at the international law firm Watson Farley and Williams. The company’s website described him as specializing in "complex cross-border finance transactions with a particular focus on the transportation and energy sectors… Mehraab was recognized for his sector-spanning asset finance expertise by legal directories Chambers Asia Pacific, Chambers Global, Legal 500 Asia Pacific and IFLR 1000.”