Padam Ghimire stood outside the morgue of the Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences on Thursday morning, holding a photograph.
The photo was of his brother-in-law, 27-year-old Dr Ayush Adhikari.
The stench coming from the morgue had spread beyond the hospital premises. Inside were bodies brought in after being swept away by floods. Outside, relatives waited, hoping to identify their loved ones.
Ghimire had traveled to Pokhara from Bandipur.
Adhikari, who worked at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, had remained in contact with his family until Wednesday morning. He has been unreachable since then.
Adhikari had gone on a trip with friends. His family fears he may have been swept away by the flood that followed.
A total of 101 bodies swept away by the Bhotekoshi flood are currently being kept at the morgue of the Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences. Ghimire went there hoping that one of them might be his brother-in-law.
“I am in Pokhara, so I came here to collect Ayush’s body. Other relatives have gone to Bharatpur, while some are in Kathmandu,” he said. “We had to split up and search.”
Because the family does not know where Adhikari’s body may have been swept away, relatives are searching for him in different locations.
Like Ghimire, other families whose relatives have been missing since the Bhotekoshi flood have also started arriving at the morgue. According to police, two bodies have been identified so far.
The District Police Office, Kaski, has set up a service center in a laboratory building next to the morgue to assist with body identification and provide necessary services to victims’ families.
Police said that once a body is identified, families can complete the required police procedures there and receive the body.
Superintendent of Police Nabin Karki, chief of Kaski Police, said that photographs and physical descriptions of the bodies were being displayed on screens inside the laboratory to make identification easier.
“We have arranged services at the hospital itself to make things easier for victims’ families who come to claim bodies. To assist with identification, photographs of the bodies and their physical descriptions are being shown on displays,” he said.
Once relatives identify a body based on the photographs and descriptions, police will proceed with the necessary procedures, he added.
Karki said that unidentified bodies would be kept in cold storage for some time.
According to the hospital administration, the number of bodies has exceeded the morgue’s capacity. The bodies have been cleaned to make identification easier.
Ghimire, who had been searching for Adhikari’s body since early morning, had still not found him.
