Himalayan flood: When the dead are still waiting to come home

The Himalayan flood came with the force of a tsunami, tearing through settlements with water, mud and debris and leaving behind homes without families, families without answers and communities struggling to understand the scale of what they have lost. The full number of people missing remains uncertain. Some may still be buried beneath layers of mud and debris, while others may have been trapped in tunnels or swept downstream by swollen rivers. As recovery teams continue their search, bodies have been carried far from the places where people lived and into areas such as Chitwan.

Chitwan, known for its forests, rivers and wildlife, has therefore become an unexpected destination for the dead. Bodies recovered from rivers are arriving from places hundreds of kilometres away, placing additional pressure on hospitals and temporary facilities that were never designed to manage such a large number of remains at once. Decomposition is also making identification increasingly difficult. At the same time, families continue to arrive with photographs, names and whatever information they have, hoping that one of the recovered bodies might finally tell them what happened to someone who has not returned home.