A total of 145 bodies recovered from the Narayani River area in West Nawalparasi have been managed following the flood in the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa on August 26.
Bodies continue to be found almost daily in areas including Triveni and the Gandak Barrage along the Narayani River, as well as in Kushinagar, India.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Madan Thapa, information officer at the District Police Office, Nawalparasi, 195 bodies had been recovered in the Narayani River area as of Wednesday evening.
Of these, 14 bodies were found in India.
According to police, bodies swept downstream through the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli, and Narayani rivers and the Gandak Barrage, and later recovered in the Khadda-Gandak area of Kushinagar were brought back through the Maheshpur border crossing and handed over to the Area Police Office in Maheshpur.
These bodies, along with those recovered in Nepal, were taken to Prithvi Chandra Hospital in the district headquarters of Parasi, where DNA samples were collected before the bodies were managed.
As the bodies kept at hospitals began causing an increasing stench in the market area, the local administration began moving them to forest areas for management from Tuesday.
Police said that of the 195 bodies recovered by Wednesday, five had been identified and handed over to their families. Another 50 bodies had been sent to hospitals in Butwal, Bhairahawa, and Kapilvastu.
Police said that the bodies sent to other locations are also being managed. As nine days have passed since the floods and many of the recovered bodies have been found in conditions that make visual identification difficult, the bodies are being managed immediately after DNA samples are collected, according to police.
Bodies of people who died in the flood but could not be identified have been managed in the Alakatra Danda area of Mulpani Community Forest in Ward No. 4 of Sunwal Municipality and the Chisapani Community Forest area in Ward No. 2 of Bardaghat Municipality.
Excavators and security personnel dug burial pits in the community forests. Markers have been placed at each site to make it easier to identify the bodies in the future.
Police said that after the bodies were covered with soil, iron plates bearing identification numbers were placed at the same locations to preserve details about each body.
According to police, the bodies have been managed in a way that allows them to be exhumed and handed over to family members in the future if DNA testing enables their identification.
