Australian feared among dead

By Annabelle McDonald and Katrina Strickland
September 07, 2005

A TELEVISION news cameraman now living in New York is among eight Australians who are still missing a week after Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans.

Nick Castellaro, 36, a former Channel 7 cameraman, last spoke to his older brother Anthony one week ago when he said he was going to New Orleans to cover the hurricane that may have claimed up to 10,000 lives.
The family have not heard from Mr Castellaro since.

"We are pretty worried," said his father Peter Castellaro last night from his Brisbane home.

"We just cannot get in contact with him. We hope he is OK but we are pretty concerned at the moment."

Mr Castellaro, who has previously worked out of Seven's Los Angeles and New York bureaus, was mentioned by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in parliament yesterday as someone the Foreign Affairs Department was worried about.

It was during an assignment in New York that he met model Elle Macpherson and asked her to pose for a snap to show his mates.
Serious concerns are also held for a Melbourne factory hand, Ashley McDonald, who was last seen at his hotel in New Orleans's French Quarter. The 30-year old Narre Warren man was on a month-long holiday during which he planned to visit his sister and brother-in-law, Jasmine and John Mutnansky, who live in Clarksville, Tennessee.

He was to ring his sister as soon as he arrived in New Orleans, but she has not heard from him. His aunt, Sandra McMeekin, said last night he was not the sort to remain out of contact.

Mr McDonald's father Doug and mother Sharon flew to Houston on Monday, and were yesterday on their way to New Orleans to search the Superdome and other shelters for their son.

Australian ambassador to Washington Dennis Richardson said consular officials had already begun the search and had found his hotel boarded up.

"We will be meeting his parents on arrival, giving them a briefing on what we know and we will be taking it from there," Mr Richardson said.

Mr Castellaro has been living in New York for three years and told his family before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf region that he was heading South with his camera for work.

His older brother Anthony said he believed Nick was working for Reuters.

'He has been a cameraman for 15 years and he has done this sort of stuff before, he worked in Kuwait," he said from Queensland's Hervey Bay last night. "It would be nice to hear from him, but we are not surprised. He'd be flat out, he'd be going 24/7. He'll pop up when the job's done," he said.

While eight Australians remained unaccounted for yesterday, five - a holidaying family of four and a 75-year-old New Orleans resident - were found safe.

Wheelchair bound New Orleans resident Keith Faulkner, was discovered in a nursing home in Lafayette, Louisiana, having been stranded in his New Orleans home for five days.

Mr Faulkner, who has cancer, was left behind by his family as they evacuated the city. A neighbour found him and helped him reach the nursing home.

"The elderly Australian was found in his home," Mr Richardson said. "He (is) unfortunately suffering from cancer (and is) around 75 years old and when the flooding started his family had no choice but to leave themselves, and he was left in the house as best they could manage."

Mr Faulkner is a dual citizen and last lived in Australia 37 years ago. He has emailed family members to let them know he is safe.

News is also good for family and friends of the Barron family from the Hunter Valley in NSW.

Peter Barron, 35, yesterday told The Australian how his family - wife Tracey, 33, and their children Campbell, 10 and Kennedy, 9 - spent one day in New Orleans before deciding to head north, out of the path of the hurricane.

He said he was amazed by how unconcerned and unprepared the city's residents seemed to be.

"They were just completely disorganised. Some hotels and shops were boarding up their windows but for the most part people were just carrying on as normal," Mr Barron said from his hotel room in Las Vegas.

The family headed to Baton Rouge and were on the road when the hurricane hit.

Meanwhile Australians to have survived the hurricane and the ensuing trauma continued to head for home.

Queensland woman Donna Huntley will arrive in Rockhampton this morning after an ordeal that included being assaulted and robbed when she took refuge in the Superdome in New Orleans.

Other Australian survivors now home are Karen Marks, 25, of the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights, and her aunt Pamela Whyte, 59, of Broadmeadows. The pair survived not only the hurricane but five days on the hellish conditions of the New Orleans Convention Centre.

Additional reporting: Elizabeth Gosch and Cath Hart

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