The number of missing Australians in flood-hit Nepal has risen to 39 as the government confirms it has sent a specialised team to the ravaged region.

Australian officials are working urgently to confirm the welfare of those reported missing after catastrophic flooding and a landslide hit communities near the border with Tibet, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday.

At least 360 people have died and hundreds more remain unaccounted for, including 39 Australians, up from 34 announced on Thursday.

Among the missing include 15 who were on a trek with US travel company Himalayan Glacier Adventures.

Additional personnel to support Australians affected by the disaster will be sent to the region, Senator Wong said.

“The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery,” a statement from her office read.

The government will provide humanitarian support and has established a $5 million assistance package for affected communities.

An initial team of three humanitarian response specialists will be sent to help 20 staff already on the ground in Nepal.

Senator Wong confirmed the additional four Australians missing had been travelling separately to the tour group. She said DFAT is assisting with 43 consular cases related to the matter. “We are urgently working to identify how many Australians have been in the region and to confirm the welfare of any Australians who are not accounted for,” Senator Wong told ABC Radio National Breakfast. She added there was an “unfortunate possibility” the number of missing Australia could rise.

Families gathered for prayers and held a minute’s silence for those lost to the floods, laying candles beside a hand-crafted display of dyed rice reading “pray for Nepal” on Thursday night.

Keshav Kadel was among members of Nepalese community who gathered at the Australian Nepalese Multicultural Centre, which he serves as vice president.

“What’s happening in my town is that bodies are now flowing in the river,” he told AAP.

“They have slid all the way down and people are pulling bodies from the river.”

The diaspora was “united in grief, hope and prayer,” secretary of the centre Sudhir Shakya told the event, held northwest of Melbourne.

“Behind every number is a person – a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a relative, a friend, and someone deeply loved,” he said.

Mourners compared the floods to the 2015 earthquake which devastated Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, killing almost 9000 people.

While the death count is not as great, Mr Kadel warned consequences would be more dire at the level of individual towns.

From Melbourne, he has followed the disaster largely through social media, unable to bring himself to call those in the affected region.

“I didn’t have the courage to do that,” he said.

Similar events were held across the country on Thursday, including a candle vigil in Rockdale, in Sydney’s south.

Smartraveller has updated its travel advice, urging people to exercise a high degree of caution because of major flash flooding and a mudslide.

Australians in need of urgent help should contact DFAT’s 24-hour consular emergency centre.