Nepal Searches On For 6,000 Missing In Floods
The Falls of the Clyde after a Flood — James Ward, ca. 1811
What Happened
Search teams in Nepal are still looking for roughly 6,000 people unaccounted for nearly four weeks after flash floods killed more than 1,400. Rescuers recently recovered 17 bodies trapped in mud and reinforcement mesh inside a hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa. Only about 110 of the recovered bodies have been identified and returned to families.
Why It Matters
Identifying the dead has become its own crisis. Bodies swept downstream are often decomposed or recovered in pieces, so DNA testing is now the only reliable method, and that takes time and living relatives to compare samples against. Nearly 1,300 bodies have been temporarily buried while that process continues. Families are left waiting without confirmation either way.
What's Next
The government aims to reopen 12 repaired suspension bridges by October 6; 33 others need full reconstruction.