Authorities in Nepal began mass burials on Sunday for unidentified victims of a flash flood triggered by a glacial collapse that hit the Himalayan border region with China on Wednesday. The burials are taking place in the Devghat forest in Chitwan, located nearly 200 kilometers from the disaster zone in the Rasuwa district. Ganesh Arya, the chief district officer of Bharatpur, stated that the step was necessary due to public health risks posed by the rapid decomposition of the bodies.
The disaster occurred when a glacial collapse triggered a flash flood that swept through valleys along the Nepal-Tibet border. The event resulted in approximately 750 deaths and left more than 3,000 people reported missing. Recovery operations are ongoing as teams continue to retrieve remains from rivers and debris piles, though officials noted that many bodies are now beyond recognition.
To manage the unidentified remains, authorities buried 96 bodies on Saturday and planned to bury more than 100 others on Sunday. Each site is being documented with precise location data and identification markers placed both above and below ground. DNA samples are being collected from all unidentified victims to allow for future identification and exhumation if family claims or genetic testing provide matches later.
The scale of the crisis has overwhelmed local infrastructure, with one morgue in Bharatpur holding 125 bodies in a facility designed for 50. The resulting decomposition poses health risks to the police officers, rescue workers, and medical staff managing the remains. To support the technical requirements of DNA analysis, a forensic team from India is working with Nepali counterparts, and Nepal is coordinating with a team from China.
The next steps for the recovery operation include the continued documentation of photographs and DNA profiles as more bodies arrive from the flood zone. While the mass burials in Devghat forest provide an immediate solution for public health, the logged coordinates and DNA records mean the sites are intended to allow for future identification. Families waiting at the Chitwan Expo Centre continue to await access to photographic records of the recovered victims as authorities process the remains.