Email conversation with Diane Ablonczys office Some additional words from Mandeep Srawn (sister).

Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 19:53:42 +1000 Subject: Re: Letter on search for Prabhdeep Srawn From: mandeep.srawn@gmail.com To: rubys22@hotmail.com CC: ashley.mcarthur@international.gc.ca; diane.ablonczy@parl.gc.ca; helene.laverdiere.a2@parl.gc.ca; paul.dewar@parl.gc.ca; kyle.seeback@parl.gc.ca; bob.rae.a1@parl.gc.ca; bob.rae@rogers.blackberry.net; amneet.singh@parl.gc.ca; bal.gosal@parl.gc.ca; pram.gill@parl.gc.ca; jsingh-qp@ndp.on.ca; bairdj@parl.gc.ca; justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca; pm@pm.gc.ca Thanks Ruby. I'm Prabh's sister who is on the ground here. The reason I'm not writing you is because I don't have the time to discuss my concerns with you if you're not willing to help. However, some new information we got today is incredibly frustrating, upsetting and is not even remotely SATISFACTORY! Regardless of what the NSW police are telling you, its important you know this information so that after this is all done there's a proper inquest into all parties involved who decided search efforts were "complete and satisfactory". How is a search complete before you find the person you're searching for? He couldn't have just disappeared up there. At today's briefing the police officer suggested we, as in Prabhs family/friends and other volunteers, not rule out the Lady Northcote Canyon because they've found people in there before and since the voices came from there we should attempt to search it. They said we'd

need ropes and harnesses and someone with experience of mountain climbing should definitely go in. To recap, Lady Northcote Canyon is an area that they claimed to search extensively. I started asking questions, of whether it was searched by foot or by air, I was FINALLY told it could only be searched by air b/c there wasn't room to walk had he been there. Also, you needed harnesses and ropes for it. I also find it extremely frustrating to make them understand the simple fact that you don't need ropes and harness's to fall. Prabh easily could've lost his footing and fell into ANY area where they think its difficult for him to have gotten to. They are NOW telling us that there are several boulders that should be searched and room to walk. If these are the most experienced and professional hikers out there, why haven't they sent a mountain climber to search that area? Why did they lie to me this entire time, did they want us to wait for him to die? HOW are you satisfied that they're doing all they can when they're asking us to search in certain areas they didn't feel like going?! WHY does the AFP, State Emergency Services and NSW police not have a SINGLE mountain climber who could've ruled out this area? Again, HOW are you satisfied? How is this complete when they themselves haven't covered BASIC areas? Walking the main trail over and over again won't produce results - we all know he's not there! I asked about UAVs the first day when the voices were heard to get into the canyon and Little Austria area that were deemed too dangerous to search by foot. I was told no, they don't have that technology. I was advised to send an email to the police two days ago regarding all my concerns; I again requested the UAV technology when we were able to locate several private teams. The commissioner THEN said he would look into it and they had already put in order however it wouldn't be here until June 20th for use. Thats inexcusable - they had

resources they didn't use. As Ruby mentioned Commander Box wanted to call off the search on the first day we landed. If it weren't for the voices the following day I'm confident they would've. The voices in the low terrain told us he was well below the snowline implying hypothermia wasn't the issue. Also there are thousands of sources of water every few meters. Now if this was your loved one and you were heard him cry for help on the 8th day and your "expert" told you he only had 14 days to live (which definitely isn't the case with ALL the experts and locals I've consulted) wouldn't you call as many resources as you could to cover as much ground as possible? Bushwalking teams (EXPERIENCED AND LICENSED) such as ACT Bushwalking team and Canberra Bushwalking team have over 50 volunteers willing to go out and assist immediately once the police requests it. They wouldn't, even when we suggested it. I asked what they're expert based he's time limit on, they didn't know. Prabh always used to say its so difficult to starve yourself b/c eating an ant or especially a caterpillar (ONE) will give you enough protein, zinc and iron for weeks! They don't even know what these experts are basing their theory on. The areas deemed "too dangerous" we went out and searched ourselves. Inexperienced beginner bushwalkers and even myself who has zero tolerance for cold easily did it. Requesting accurate information about certain locations they've searched took days. I had police officers tell me point blank, "look, we did it. We searched it" But they hadn't (proven by the GPS marked on the map they provided). This set back our private teams by DAYS! Basic PR is an issue with the NSW police. We're a grieving family

regardless of how strong we come across. I don't appreciate being told that we're doing this for publicity. I also feel exploited by the media sometimes but its the ONLY channel that's benefited us in these search efforts. I don't appreciate police officers rolling their eyes at me when i ask basic questions respectfully. I don't appreciate being told he's hiding out there purposely so he can write a book about this after. I have strong faith he's still alive and can EASILY survive in the climates where they suspect him to be. That's the only reason I haven't gone to the police station crying. Crying will only hinder our thought process. Time is of the essence, how do you not have any sense of urgency? I actually wish the police called off the search earlier so we could be out there searching sooner. I shouldn't have to explain why Im staying strong to anyone but will. Its because I know he's alive, but he's suffering and we're losing time. If you're so confident he's died, please actually COMPLETE the search so everyone has closure. WE need more manpower out there covering areas where we actually believe him to be. WE've been in there and you can get lost easily, even with a compass and map. If someone just pushed through the terrain, you'd be walking in circles in there. You can't see anything- not the top or even the bottom. II don't know how you can sleep at night. If this was someone of higher stature (possibly related to someone of authority or you all), you wouldn't consider this complete. If you are a parent or have a sibling, do something. We've spent about $40k investing in flights, accommodations, gear, equipment (UAV and helicopter searches) and private teams. We will continue to do so until we find my brother.

On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 5:17 AM, Ruby Singh-Sahota <rubys22@hotmail.com> wrote: Ashley, Please relay my message to Diane Ablonczy. We the family of Prabhdeep Srawn are very disappointed and disgusted with the choice made by this administration. How can you be satisfied with the search efforts when some of the most basic equipment in a SAR mission were not used. For instance the search helicopter was not even equipped with a built in thermal camera, I know this from the helicopter company itself. What was being used was a handheld thermal device that would only be pulled out and used once visual contact was made with something of interest. This leaves enormous room for human error. I ask you if it was your loved one facing life or death would you be satisfied? Furthermore, after much effort on behalf of the family to collect what information they could from various sources, since the NSW Police did not release complete information of their search activities, we were able to provide some information to a private group who did a scientific analysis based on phone signals and weather patterns. As a result of this analysis the private company has concluded that the area that needs to be searched is the western (Victorian) side of Mt. Kosciuszko and Townsend down to the Geehi Valley below. More particularly they are "very confident based on mobile phone logs and tower strength that Prabh reached both Mt Kossie and Mt Townsend and that Townsend was in fact reached second....It is at this point

things went bad for him." This is precisely the type of information that should have been provided to the SAR teams by the police, however contrary to what this government wishes to believe they did not have a concise or well coordinated search plan in place. This area has only been searched very recently after urging the authorities to do so (this was also done only after your email response). The search in this area was only done by their unequipped helicopter, which is an effort that would be futile since there is heavy vegetation/trees on the west side making it difficult to see anything unless the search is done with a built in thermal camera, unmanned arial vehicles (UAV), or on foot. All of which have NOT been done to date. We have had a very hard time having confidence in the NSW police who it took 5 days after knowing of Prabh's disappearance to find a simple laptop in his vehicle. How are these same men expected to find someone in a national park of this magnitude? Moreover, how can our Canadian Government be satisfied with these search efforts? If the shoe was on the other foot and an Australian was missing in Canada would the Australian authorities be pleased with such lack luster efforts. In fact, Prabhdeep's sister, Mandeep Srawn, was told by Officer Shane Box of the NSW Police that they would most likely "call off" the search very soon on the first day of the families arrival on May 21st. I ask you does this sound like the attitude of a police force that is wishing to conduct a thorough investigation and search? I do not think so. In fact, it is the families contention that the NSW Police were treating this case as a recovery mission from the very beginning therefore putting my cousins life in further danger. This is an unconscionable action taken by the police and since I have been

informed by Diane Ablonczy that her office is in constant communications with the NSW police, the Canadian government as well. I am afraid your inactions and decision to take our concerns so lightly could in fact end up taking my dear cousins life. Lastly, we DO have our facts straight. In fact, the letter of concerns that I submitted to you upon your request reached my family on the ground, Mandeep Srawn, through the Canadian High Commission of Canberra and was in fact approved by her in its entirety. Furthermore she added another page of concerns to the list, which I have attached to this email along with my original letter to your office. We the family of Prabhdeep with not take this sitting down. We are not willing to so easily give up on this precious life. A person that went to great lenghts to train for 6 years as a Reservist in the Canadian Armed forces so that he could be of service to his country and countrymen in a time of need. Well now it is your turn and it is his time of need. What have you chosen to do. Take the word of the NSW over that of your own citizens? We are ashamed of this administration's choice to merely push along paperwork, instead of easily taking some action that could have made a big difference. You had the choice and your choice was to do nothing. Sincerely, Ruby Singh-Sahota

Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2013 16:14:58 -0400 Subject: Fwd: Letter on search for Prabhdeep Srawn

From: rubysingh.esq@gmail.com To: rubys22@hotmail.com

---------- Forwarded message ---------From: <Ashley.McArthur@international.gc.ca> Date: Fri, May 31, 2013 at 5:32 PM Subject: RE: Letter on search for Prabhdeep Srawn To: rubysingh.esq@gmail.com

Ruby, I hope you are well. I am writing to let you know that Minister Ablonczy has reviewed the concerns you sent me yesterday. The Minister has discussed them with senior Australian officials as well as Canadas Mission. As a result we are satisfied that the search has been fully complete and appropriate. In order for your family to receive the most up-to-date and correct information, we believe it is much more coherent to have one point of contact, which is why that is our usual practice. I would therefore strongly recommend that you speak with your loved ones on the ground, to receive the correct information with respect to some of your points. The New South Wales Police have advised that they are willing to answer your concerns directly. You or your family on the ground may want to send these concerns to the New South Wales Police for a formal response.

While Canada respects that Australia must make their own decisions about their resources, Canadian officials will continue to provide your family with assistance and engage with Australian officials on the search for Mr. Srawn. Our thoughts are with you and we pray for your cousins safe return. Ashley

On May 30, 2013, at 12:34 PM, <Ashley.McArthur@international.gc.ca> wrote: Hi Ruby, Thank you for providing me with this information. I will review with the Minister and get back to you on what action's have been taken. Could you please advise which phone number is best? It was a pleasure to meet you and your family today. I am sorry it was under such distressing circumstances. Best, Ashley

From: Ruby Singh [mailto:rubysingh.esq@gmail.com] Sent: May 30, 2013 12:30 PM To: McArthur, Ashley -MSFA

Subject: Fwd: Fw: Letter on search for Prabhdeep Srawn

Please find a letter outlining a list of our concerns regarding the Prabhdeep Srawn case.

Kind Regards, Ruby Singh-Sahota

Attachments:
May 30, 2013 Ashley McArthur Office of the Hon. Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State for Consular Affairs Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Re: Search for Prabhdeep Srawn in Australia Dear Ms. McArthur, Following from our conversation earlier today, I would like to detail our familys concerns with the search for Prabhdeep Srawn in Australia. The morning of the 14th was sunny and hot. The storm hit in the middle of the day on Tuesday 14th. Prabhdeep, who has extensive training in cold-weather survival, was in possession of good grip shoes or hiking boots, and Columbia jacket to keep him warm. - There was no initial search strategy in place on the ground in Australia. - For the first days of the search there was no attempt to map the search based on the correct timing of Prabhdeeps departure. The police initially stated he went up on Monday May 13th, but videos reveal that on the evening of the 13 th he was at a convenience store in the area and therefore only went up on the morning of Tuesday 14th after sleeping in his car. We believe he had intended to return the same day. He was supposed to return his rental car the next morning,

Wednesday 15th May. Note that the footage from the convenience store was found during the familys investigations. What this means is that he would have been in a different area when the storm hit from what the search teams were initially thinking. This would change the search completely. The searchers said that on Tuesday 14th May there was a cellphone signal from a certain area of the park, but after that they were no longer able to track the signal. The family is concerned that Prabhdeeps laptop was not found until three days into the search, despite insisting to searchers that the laptop would be essential for the search. When the laptop was found by the family, they found maps with Prabhdeeps intended hiking routes. The police did not have this information for the first three days of the search. The family was told by search teams that they did not have the correct equipment, such as rock-climbing equipment, to go down into certain gulleys. While the search teams said they were using thermal search technology, they were using thermal binoculars, which are not useful in highly-dense bush areas, or if he had built a snowfort, or if he was low down in a gulley. They are also not as effective as the kind of thermal equipment on helicopters that is standard in Canada, and that we have heard is readily available in Australia. On Wednesday May 22nd, around 11am, authorities said someone heard a voice from around the Opera House hut. It was confirmed the following day by national park workers that it was a male voice. The voice would have been coming from within a 500m radius. Yet there were only six people on the ground that day. We still do not know if the search team went back to that area and searched within the 500m radius of the voice. The next day, manpower was only increased from six to ten. On May 25th, the search teams Skidoos were not working so they were unable to search properly that day by foot. A search helicopter was doing double-duty, used for transport as well as for the search. There are many crucial areas that have not yet been searched. We still do not know what areas were searched by foot or by helicopter. Some false information has been given by NSW police to the sister of Prabhdeep Srawn (for instance, she was told on one day that one area was searched by helicopter and foot, while she is now being told this area was only searched by helicopter). The police have contradicted initial information several

times. For instance, Little Austria was never covered by foot police initially gave the family false information.

We are deeply concerned that a full search was not conducted, that authorities are calling off the search too early, and that additional resources are needed to continue the search. Please ensure that the Australian High Commission is made aware of these issues immediately. Sincerely,

Ruby Singh-Sahota

Additional Search Issues From Mandeep Srawn

Laptop issue not finding it until 3 days and not even searching for it until we suggested it. T hen not being able to find the most recent searches he had gone through to indicate which walk he took (summit walk to mt. kozsiusko to mt. townsend) CONTRARY to what they believed he did Main range. They kept saying unknown second mountain. However the searches were everywhere and we told them they hadnt gone there by foot nor had they searched surrounding area to mt. townsend at that point. first day we got here Commander Box told us they would consider calling off search the next day as his chances of survival were very slim had they not heard voices the following day and with political pressure I dont think they wouldve continued the search very insensitive when they heard the voices at Opera House Hut, two hours later they searched Seamens hut, they hadnt pulled any resources away from other places they were searching to search areas where the voices couldve travelled. They also told us it could a lunatic making up stories and no one has confirmed it was even a voice, possibly is a dog When nothing happened, the following day they told us they confirmed two national parks workers heard a Male voice call out for over a short period of time and sounded as though it was coming from the canyon The next day there was no air search, and the ground searchers continued to wlak the main range and summit walk as they had in the past, some exploring townsend the surrounding area to OPERA house hut wasnt searched until DAYS later, by then someone would get tired of waiting and would start moving Friday May 24th, they found a waterbottle that stated the scuba diving company that Prabh had recently gone with in December (Cairns Great Barrier Reef) We confirmed no one saw him purchase the white bottle as they described it. We asked all roommates and no one had ever seen this We asked to see bottle and couldnt do so until the following afternoon! The bottle was BLUE! It wasnt even white

They said they would continue searches along the waterbottle trail (something that took them over 3 days). We had to suggest they take findgerprints when they said only DNA would be more effective. Its not 1.5 weeks later and the results havent returned! Also, However when we (my family) went out there and we realized where the bottle was, as in its proximity to the open camp ground and river and hiway, it didnt make sense to us. He wouldnt drop his full waterbottle even if he was close to the river and not have been found in the open by now. We brought this to their attention that night at the briefing and Inspector Rooney said Look it doesnt make sense to us either why would they expend their resources in an area that doesnt make sense to them over 3 days. Its b/c theyre exhausted and need breaks everyone needs breaks, thats why you need more resources out there Theyd start after 9am (2 hrs after daylight) and complete by 4pm and one day even at 3pm due to exhaustion. We started asking specific questions regarding the actual area covered by foot and making suggestions to which we received a response such as look, we want to find him also and are doing our best. We were as patient as we could be but needed answers to exact areas they covered and they shouldve been open to taking suggestions. Theyd tell me they covered mount sentinel one day, the next two days later tell me they didnt get to cover it b/c someone was injured. The same thing happened with Little Austria I was told they were going to cover it and that they had NOT on their last briefing to us on Monday May 27th. I was also told the entire time they couldnt follow along the ridgeline or close enough to the canyon where the voices mayve bounced off of b/c theress no room to walk it. HOW did a footpath just appear during their evaluation on May 26th? May 27th evening was our first briefing they didnt go over anything with us and had brought in Commander Box. They told us theyd let us know in the morning what they were to do. WE knew then the search was going to be called off and initiated a search for private parties In the meeting the next day they failed to answer our questions as to why this expert says he can only last 14 days when our experts told us its significantly more especially if he is eating something The embassy and others insisted if we found proof he had purchased more food than he already had, they could continue the search. However we cant access his bank accounts or anything at all how could we?! They have access to that information They assured us they wouldnt stop but would scale back until Thursday 6pm. They scaled back from 28 to 19 to 15 to 9 people who ended their search at noon on Thursday. I asked the question if the 8th day they heard a cry for help, and you knew he couldnt survive past 14 days, wouldnt you expend as many resources as you could and not search in areas that didnt make any sense to you for 3 of those days? Why wait until the 13th day to BEGIN searching the area where the voices couldve travelled from? we told them wed hire our private teams and they failed to provide us all the information we needed even a list of what was covered wasnt given to us! It took 2 days for them to provide the map (and only b/c we contacted the embassy to pressure them) they hadnt covered half the areas they told me in the briefings they had! Officer Peter Rooney was taking time off and said they wouldnt resume search efforts until Wednesday weather being the reason, Sunday and Monday were

forecasted to be a storm and Tuesday they wanted a leeway day just in case the weather got bad. Thats why theyd resume Wednesday. The weather on Sunday was perfect our family (first time hikers) went up there and took pictures of the weather a waste of a day Monday- Wednesday forecasted to be beautiful. When the Lifesaver helicopters showed up on Monday morning to ask for approval to continue the search for Prabh, they had to wait 3 hours before obtaining approval b/c the scheduled efforts were for Wednesday. Thursday is another storm, that only gives searchers one day to get out there They were incredibly rude and insensitive to us and Prabhs friends when we were renting beacons to continue our search out there- VERY insulting and aggressive (the search coordinator in particular was a jerk)

WE keep saying he wouldve went to the western face of mount townsend and is probably doing circles under the treeline or is badly injured they wont help us cover significant area . We contacted several teams to hire privately but were informed they couldnt assist unless police requested it. They have additional resources and wont use them. Mandeep Srawn