Pokhara, August 28
Twenty-nine people from Palpa Dharapani and Sankosh in Nilkantha Municipality-9, Dhading, who had travelled to Gosainkunda on a pilgrimage, went missing after the devastating Bhotekoshi flood on Wednesday.
A reserved bus, registration number Ga 5 Kha 1250, went missing from Betrawati on Wednesday morning. Some pilgrims managed to contact their families after the flood and said they had survived by taking shelter on the roof of a house. But contact was subsequently lost.
Since then, their families and relatives have been moving from Kathmandu to Chitwan, Tanahun and Pokhara in search of their loved ones.
At the Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences, photographs of unidentified bodies have been displayed near the laboratory to help families identify them. The facility is currently holding 93 bodies.
“Neither their names are on the list of rescued people, nor can we identify them among the bodies at any one place,” Gokarna Lamsal, a relative waiting outside the mortuary, told Onlinekhabar. “Some family members are searching in Kathmandu, some in Chitwan, some in Tanahun and others here in Pokhara.”
As many as seven members of a single family are among the 29 missing pilgrims. Some families have lost four members, while others are searching for husbands, wives and children who travelled together.
“There is still hope until the bodies are found. But that hope is slowly fading, and we have started searching for the bodies,” said Balram Lamsal.
Families have been carrying photographs of the missing and visiting hospitals where bodies recovered from the flood have been taken.
‘I could identify him by his tattoos’
Among those searching in Pokhara is Sita, whose 38-year-old brother Ram Sharan Karki has been missing since Wednesday.
Karki, a resident of Aarughat in Gorkha, had returned home only three days earlier before leaving again for work in Rasuwa. He called his family from Mailung on Wednesday morning to say he was heading to work. Contact was lost shortly afterwards.
Karki worked as a driver for a Korean hydropower company.
Sita was outside the laboratory at Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences, calling relatives and looking through photographs of unidentified bodies.
“I don’t think I can find my brother here either. If I could see the body myself, I could identify him by his tattoos,” she said.
Karki has tattoos covering his arms. However, only parts of the faces and bodies of the unidentified victims are visible in the photographs displayed for identification, making it difficult for relatives to recognise them.
Of the 93 bodies currently kept at the academy, 75 have been washed and placed with identifying features recorded. The remaining bodies were yet to undergo the process when Sita arrived.
Her husband accompanied her to Pokhara, while other members of the family were searching hospitals in Kathmandu and Chitwan.
“My brothers have gone to Kathmandu. My sisters are searching in Chitwan. We are here in Pokhara,” she said, showing photographs that could help identify Ram Sharan.
Doctor among those missing
Dr Ayush Adhikari, who works at Kathmandu’s Grande International Hospital, had travelled to Gosainkunda as a medical specialist accompanying foreign tourists.
Adhikari, a resident of Tanahun, went missing from the Rasuwa border area. His brother-in-law, Matrika Dhungana, travelled to Pokhara to search among the bodies recovered from the flood.
“He had gone to Gosainkunda to provide medical assistance to foreign visitors in case anyone developed a health problem,” Dhungana said. “But he did not get the chance to save anyone. He himself became a victim.”
Adhikari’s family members are searching in Kathmandu and other locations, while Dhungana has been checking hospitals in Pokhara.
Most bodies remain unidentified
Relatives of missing people have been arriving at the Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences with photographs, hoping to identify their loved ones among the bodies recovered from the flood.
The academy is currently holding 93 bodies—41 from Nawalpur, 11 from Gorkha, 14 from Tanahun and 27 from Dhading.
Most of the bodies are badly damaged. The mortuary, which has a capacity of 75 bodies, is overcrowded, while photographs of the victims have been displayed in the laboratory to assist identification.
According to Kaski police chief Navin Karki, 102 bodies had been brought to Pokhara, but only one, from Bhaktapur, had been identified.
He said bodies would be handed over to families after identification and post-mortem examinations. Police are also collecting fingerprints as part of the identification process.
Nine additional bodies recovered in Tanahun are being kept at Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara.
Families have been visiting both hospitals to examine the photographs displayed for identification.
“Wherever bodies have been taken for identification, we have to go there,” said Gokarna Lamsal. “We don’t know whether we will find them or not. This disaster has broken everyone’s hearts, and on top of that, families may not even be able to perform the final rites for their loved ones.”
He said the scale of the disaster meant it was not the time to blame anyone, but families needed help finding their missing relatives.
Bodies recovered across eight districts
The Bhotekoshi flood, which later swept into the Trishuli River, has caused extensive loss of life across multiple districts.
Nearly 500 bodies have been recovered so far from Rasuwa, Dhading, Nuwakot, Chitwan, Tanahun, Gorkha, East Nawalparasi and West Nawalparasi.
Bodies recovered from the disaster have also been taken to Kathmandu, Pokhara, Palpa, Rupandehi and Kapilvastu for identification and further procedures.
For families of the 29 missing pilgrims from Dhading, the search continues from one hospital to another, with photographs of their loved ones in hand and hope of finding an answer.
