Nepalese authorities have acknowledged they have been able to identify just 20 of the 794 people killed in last week’s devastating flash floods, even as preparations are underway to bury unidentified victims in mass graves.
Mortuaries in Kathmandu and nearby districts are now overwhelmed by bodies recovered from flood-ravaged communities, while many more remains are being held in temporary shelters as officials struggle to manage the growing toll.
The crisis has been compounded by the fact that many hospitals in Nepal lack dedicated mortuary facilities, placing additional strain on rescue teams searching through areas devastated along the Nepal-Tibet border.
Officials say more than 2,400 people remain missing, and the confirmed death toll of 794 is expected to continue rising as recovery efforts press on.
The missing include 48 British nationals, while China has said a further 15 people are unaccounted for in Tibet, though it remains unclear whether that number overlaps with the figures released by Nepal.
Bodies that have been recovered have become so decomposed that they are virtually unidentifiable after being in water and thick mud for days with some recovered almost 100 miles from the flood’s epicentre with others found in rivers in neighbouring India.
The Nepal government has now ordered that all unidentified and unclaimed bodies be buried in mass graves after DNA samples are taken from them in the hope that they can be identified at a later date.
One official told the Daily Mail: ‘We have to do this to prevent a public health crisis. They will be given dignified burials, and we will take photographs of the bodies and DNA samples so that they can hopefully be identified at some point in the future.
Medics wearing coveralls carry the body of a flash flood victim in Chitwan, Nepal
An earthmover digs a burial site for a mass burial of flash flood victims on August 29
Officials gather at a medical outpost following the flash floods that ripped through Nepal
Hundreds of people are missing following the deadly floods in Nepal, which swept away large pieces of infrastructure
Houses lie partially submerged in muddy water along a riverside after flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district
‘We do not have the infrastructure to keep these bodies until they are identified by their loved ones. The scale of the disaster is so big that we cannot cope with the number of dead we are finding, and we have not been able to identify the majority of them.’
In emotional scenes, scores of people gathered outside one of Kathmandu’s main hospitals in an attempt to find their missing loved ones.
Around 60 bodies from the flood zone, located more than three hours away, are lying in the morgue of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital with 30 people who survived being treated by doctors, including a five-year-old girl.
The youngster, who has been named as Manisha, was found under rubble after rescuers first thought that they could hear a cat and then realised it was a child.
It took around two hours to dig her out and she was then flown to the hospital in the Nepalese capital.
Dr Gopal Sedain, hospital spokesman said: ‘She’s doing well and recovering, which is incredible given that she was under the rubble for almost four days. She’s one of the few lucky ones.
‘Our morgue only has capacity for 50 people, and we cannot take any more. From tomorrow, the bodies of those found in the flood will be taken to an area outside Kathmandu and buried.’
He added: ‘So far, we have only managed to identify one and we handed that body over to the family. But it has been impossible to identify any of the others and that is heartbreaking for us and their relatives. But we cannot cope any longer with the number of dead bodies we are receiving.’
Devi Ghat town was torn to shreds by the floods, with livestock left rotting on top of the mud
Neighbours spoke of their shock at hearing the news the Sahu family are missing, describing them as popular and well-loved members of the community
Devi Ghat was devastated by the floods which killed hundreds of people and left thousands missing
Lost: Pramod Poudel, left, from Sussex, in Nepal with his family, many of whom are missing
Posters of missing people line the wall of the hospital, showing them smiling at the camera in happier times.
The heart-breaking images are accompanied by contact details for their loved ones and details of their age and what they did for a living. Some even have copies of the passports of the missing along with maps showing their last known location.
Nearby, people patiently queued at a desk to provide the names of the missing or checking to see if they have been found.
Stony faced officials seated behind the desk directed them to a website of the Nepal police which contains pictures of the dead. The images are too disturbing to share but show decomposed and mutilated faces that are barely recognisable.
Throughout the day, there was a steady stream of people arriving at the hospital to put up posters or checking if there was any news on their loved ones who are missing.
One man called Prem revealed that this was his fifth visit to the hospital in three days.
He said: ‘I’m searching for my cousin who was working on the Nepal-Tibet border. I’ve been on the website and it’s not easy looking at it. There are horrific pictures of dead people whose faces are in such bad condition that you can’t recognise them.
‘I’ve been roaming around Kathmandu and nearby areas going from hospital to hospital but there is no news.’
Damaged homes in Trishuli Bazar following the flash flood, in Nuwakot district, Nepal
Leena Bector, 53, from Slough, Berkshire, and Nabhi Das from Streatham, London, remain unaccounted for
Shaligram arrived holding a poster with a picture of his brother staring proudly at the camera in his army uniform along with a copy of his military identification card.
He cried: ‘Our whole family is devastated, we have absolutely no idea where my brother is. He served his country, the job was his life, but our fear is that his life now has come to an end. We’re so desperate, we just want his body so that we can give him the funeral that he deserves.’
But the decision to bury the dead is adding to the agony of those searching for missing friends and family members. The majority of Nepalese are Hindu or Buddhist who believe in the spiritual importance of cremating a body on open-air pyres.
Shaligram added: ‘For us that is something very sacred. Our only hope is that if my brother is buried, we will be able to identify him in the future and then we will take his body and do a traditional cremation. That is the only way his soul will find any peace.’
Funerals are also traditionally carried out quickly, often within hours of a person dying.
Similar scenes of desperate relatives searching for the missing are unfolding at other hospitals across the city and surrounding area.
At the Kathmandu Trauma Centre, people gathered to place missing posters on the wall and register the details of their loved ones as ambulances with their sirens blazing sped in and out the facility carrying the dead or injured from the flood zone.
The hospital is treating around 50 rescued people while another 20 are in its tiny morgue, which usually has room for half that number.
Ritu Raj Aral, hospital spokesman said: ‘We are doing what we can for the living but for the dead we will now bury them as quickly as we can before being able to establish who they are.
‘It’s not easy for us because this goes against Nepali traditions, but these are desperate times for our nation.’