The District Administration Office, Kathmandu, has begun managing and burying the unidentified bodies of victims who lost their lives in Rasuwa’s Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river flood.
Starting Monday, the office began burying bodies in a government forest area near Dakshin Dhoka in Gokarneshwar Municipality-5, Kathmandu.
According to Kathmandu Chief District Officer Ishwar Raj Paudel, 40 to 50 bodies were buried on Monday, and another 70 to 80 bodies were expected to be buried by Tuesday evening.
"These unidentified bodies are being managed and buried in a way that allows them to be easily exhumed later if relatives come forward to claim them," Paudel said.
A total of 114 bodies have been brought to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. The hospital’s information officer, Kali Prasad Rosyara, said that 48 bodies were sent to the burial site on Monday and 22 on Tuesday, with the remaining bodies also in the process of being sent.
According to him, only nine bodies have been identified so far, while the rest are unrecognizable.
"Due to being crushed in the flood and landslide debris, the bodies are severely disfigured and completely unrecognizable," Rosyara explained. "Having remained in water for a long time and suffering severe impacts, the bodies are swollen.”
He added that the swollen bodies began to decompose as soon as they were to exposed to sunlight, making visual identification impossible.
Bodies have been identified using clothing, physical descriptions, fingerprints, tattoos, and other distinguishing marks, followed by DNA testing before being sent out.
DNA samples of all the bodies sent for burial are also being preserved so that family members searching for their loved ones can retrieve the bodies in the future if they wish, Rosyara said.
