A Nepali student has gone missing and the body of his friend, a 23-year-old girl, was found washed up at a Sydney beach in Australia on Monday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Shristi Bhandari of Kathmandu. Sudip Upreti, 25, of Jhapa is missing.

A member of the public discovered a woman’s body at the northern end of Maroubra beach, local police told a Post correspondent in Sydney. 

Rescue helicopters were scouring an eastern suburbs beach for a 25-year-old man after the body of a young foreign student believed to be with him washed up this morning, reported dailytelegraph.com.au.

“Police were called to Maroubra beach at about 6am this morning after a jogger discovered the body of a woman, a 23-year-old Nepali national, washed up at the northern end of the beach,” it said. Pawan Adhikari, one of the friends, said he had informed police after the two did not return home till late on Sunday.

Upreti had been living in Australia for the last three years while Bhandari had reached only a few months ago and was a student of University of New South Wales.

According to news.com.au, personal items belonging to both had been recovered.

“We’re doing our best [to locate the boy] but the surf is very hard,” the website quoted Eastern Beaches Inspector Anthony Agnew as saying. “There’s a strong possibility he has gone into the ocean as well.”

Earlier in December last year, two Nepali students had drowned, in separate incidents, while celebrating Christmas with their friends.