Since the devastating flood struck Bhotekoshi in Rasuwa on August 27, engineer Ajay Prasad Singh, who worked at the Dosan Hydropower Project, has been out of contact. The 30-year-old from Dhanusha’s Kamala Municipality left behind an anxious wife, Puja Singh, who gave birth just a month ago.
Puja has been constantly scanning social media and news for any word of her husband, occasionally posting pleas for search-and-rescue teams to find him.
“Another day has passed, and still no news of my husband. Rescue teams still haven’t reached the area around his camp, especially the northwest side, and no information has come from there,” she wrote on social media Sunday evening. “I still believe he’s waiting to be rescued. May God keep him safe wherever he is. Please send a rescue team to him as quickly as possible.”
Ajay, who married Puja in an inter-caste marriage just a year ago, has a one-month-old daughter.
Ajay Kumar Yadav, an engineer from Saptari working at a school in Rasuwa’s Uttargaya Rural Municipality, has also been uncontactable since the flood. His older brother, Shyam Sundar Yadav, travelled to Rasuwa to search for him and has appealed on social media for help with search and rescue efforts, as the family remains anxious over Ajay’s unknown condition.
Their stories mirror those of 170 other people from Madhesh Province still uncontacted as of Sunday.
District breakdown
| District | Uncontacted | Reached | Still Missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saptari | 48 | 1 | 48 |
| Parsa | 38 | 2 | 38 |
| Bara | 23 | 2 | 23 |
| Rautahat | 13 | 6 | 13 |
| Sarlahi | 16 | 3 | 16 |
| Mahottari | 17 | 7 | 10 |
| Dhanusha | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Siraha | 8 | 2 | 8 |
In total, 170 people across these eight districts remain uncontacted. Their families continue to hope for their return, much like the families of Ajay Singh and Ajay Yadav.
Relatives have kept up a steady stream of appeals to authorities, posting on social media, pleading with police, and in some cases travelling to the disaster site themselves to search for missing loved ones. As the days pass, hope is increasingly mixed with growing despair among these families.
Notable names still missing include Devraj Ishar, Anil Kumar Bishwakarma, and Ajay Marik from Saptari (though Marik has since been reached); Sarfaraz Miya and Sahabuddin Mansoori from Parsa; and Santosh Kumar Yadav, an NEA engineer, from Sirah. From Sirah, Tarzan Balampaki has been reached, and Umesh Yadav was rescued on August 29, but eight others remain missing.
Security personnel also affected
Among Madhesh Province police personnel deployed in Rasuwa, 9 lost contact; 6 have since been reached, leaving 3 still missing. From Parsa, Ojir Ansari has been reached while Shrawan Kumar Yadav remains uncontacted. Rautahat’s Nabin Kumar Singh remains out of contact with family, while Surendra Baitha is in contact and currently in Kathmandu; Mukesh Gosai reported a leg injury when he reached family on the evening of August 27.
From the Nepal Army, Rautahat’s Abhishek Gupta and Bara’s Suraj Kumar Sah remain uncontacted, while Bara’s Rowit Kumar Sah has been reached.
Police say the missing include Madhesh residents who were working in Rasuwa on hydropower projects, road construction, hotels, businesses, and trucking, as well as in Nuwakot’s Trishuli and Betrawati areas, at the time contact was lost.
