Nepal begins burying unidentified victims as bodies decompose

100 of the 269 bodies recovered from the river had already been buried as of Saturday

Kathmandu.- Nepal began burying the unidentified bodies recovered from the Trishuli River this Saturday following the devastating floods, citing public health risks as the remains have decomposed to a point where visual identification is no longer possible.

The sub-inspector of the Armed Police Force in Kurintaar, Pramod Pathak, informed EFE that the authorities have begun to manage the final disposal of the bodies recovered from the river.

According to the Chitwan District Police Office, 100 of the 269 bodies recovered from the river had already been buried as of Saturday. The rest of the bodies will be buried gradually, police sources indicated.

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The human bodies and remains recovered from the riverbanks and stored in various facilities have deteriorated significantly, making identification by the naked eye impossible, Pathak noted.

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The Police decided to bury the unidentified and unclaimed bodies under the Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies Management Directive of 2026, as an emergency measure to prevent further decomposition and ensure a safe, dignified, and legal disposal.

DNA samples will be taken from all corpses before they are buried, while detailed records will be maintained using unique identification numbers, according to the Police.

The chosen place for the burial is an open area in Devghat, in central Nepal.

Each body has been assigned a unique identification number engraved on a steel plate, which will allow relatives to locate and exhume the remains in the event that DNA analysis subsequently confirms a match, police sources explained.

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This measure comes as the authorities continue to recover bodies from the Trishuli River following the flash flood that devastated areas of northern Nepal on Wednesday, in a tragedy that leaves a toll of 682 dead between Nepal and the Chinese region of Tibet, as well as nearly 3,000 people missing.