Nepal has begun temporarily burying unidentified victims recovered from devastating floods, as authorities struggle to cope with the growing number of bodies and limited morgue capacity.
The country’s disaster management authority said on Sunday that 752 bodies had been recovered from flood-affected areas, while 2,502 people remained unaccounted for. More than 8,700 people have so far been rescued from affected communities.
Authorities said DNA samples and other identifying information are being collected from the victims before burial. Each body is also being assigned identification details to enable families to locate and recover the remains later if they are identified.
The temporary burials are being carried out because hospitals and mortuaries are struggling to accommodate the increasing number of bodies, many of which have begun decomposing.
In Chitwan, authorities have prepared burial sites at Devghat for unidentified and unclaimed victims. Officials said bodies would be buried only after DNA samples and other forensic evidence had been preserved.
The decision is particularly significant in Nepal, a predominantly Hindu country where cremation is the traditional funeral practice. Officials have stressed that the burials are temporary and that families will be allowed to exhume the remains for identification and customary funeral rites when possible.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai appealed for international assistance, saying Nepal needs more than 1,000 freezer units to safely preserve recovered bodies.
The disaster has also created major challenges for rescue teams, with thousands still missing and infrastructure badly damaged. Search operations are continuing across several flood-hit districts as authorities race to locate survivors and identify victims.
Nepal is also seeking additional international assistance for DNA testing, forensic identification and the preservation of human remains.
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