Nuwakot, Oct 3: Nepal faces a massive forensic challenge to identify victims of the August 26 Himalayan flood, with thousands of DNA samples awaiting analysis and more than 5,000 people still missing.
Authorities have recovered 1,454 bodies, around a third of them partial remains, but only 112 have been identified and returned to families. Another 5,285 people remain missing in Nepal, including hundreds of foreigners.
In China, 43 people were killed and 519 remain missing, according to state media, taking the combined toll to nearly 1,500 dead and 5,800 missing.
The disaster was triggered by a glacial and rock collapse near the Nepal-China border, sending a wall of freezing water and debris downstream.
Nepal’s two forensic laboratories, both in Kathmandu, are now processing 3,685 samples, including more than 1,300 collected from recovered bodies.
“In a year we would analyse 1,000 to 1,500 samples,” said Mukul Pradhan, chief scientific officer at the National Forensic Science Laboratory. “We are now processing thousands.”
Blood samples are relatively easy to profile, while DNA extraction from bones and teeth can take several days.
More than 1,200 bodies have already been buried after being numbered and tagged so they can be exhumed if DNA matches are later established.
The identification process is complicated because floodwaters carried bodies and remains far downstream. Unlike an earthquake or localised accident, investigators cannot easily narrow potential identities according to where remains were recovered.
DNA profiles from bodies alone are also insufficient. Experts must obtain reference samples from relatives and compare them with profiles from unidentified remains.
Several countries, including India, China and South Korea, have sent teams to assist Nepal, while fingerprint experts from the United States and Singapore are also helping. Officials hope DNA matching can begin within weeks.
For families, however, the wait remains agonising.
Rajesh Ram, 53, is still searching for his son Suroj Kumar, a garage mechanic who disappeared when Betrawati was inundated. “I searched for him everywhere, but I could not find his body,” Ram said.
Some families, unable to recover their loved ones, have already performed symbolic cremation ceremonies for the missing.
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