Nepal flash floods: Mass burials planned as mortuaries run out of space

The death toll from the flash floods rose to 788 on Sunday, with more bodies being recovered. More than 2,500 people still remain missing, while nearly 9,500 people were rescued, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

As waters recede, belongings of families washed out from their homes by the flash flood are seen strewn in Nepal’s Baitrawati Rasua border area, on Sunday. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

“Our mortuary has more than four times (the number of) bodies as against its capacity. It will not be possible to make space for more,” a doctor with the Institute of Medicine, the only government hospital in Nepal with a mortuary facility, said.

The maximum number of bodies, around 250, have been recovered so far from Chitwan district. “We are going for mass burial, but will preserve DNA in case relatives want to perform rituals based on their traditions and religious practices,” a government official said.

Families, on Sunday, crowded hospitals searching for missing relatives as rescuers continued digging through mud and debris amid intermittent rainfall and renewed concerns over rising river levels.

In a rescue operation at Timure border town, an Armed Police Force team searching the wreckage of a collapsed security post heard a child’s cries. The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported that the rescuers dug through the debris and pulled out a six-year-old girl alive.

For those pulled from the rubble, swept towards hillsides or stranded overnight in forests, surviving the flood was only the first part of the ordeal. For thousands of families still searching, the wait for news continues.

(With PTI inputs)