‘I can’t stop looking… not so soon’: In Nepal, thousands launch search missions of their own for missing kin

Over the past four days, Lekhnath Adhikari, 43, has journeyed hundreds of kilometers on his uncle's motorcycle. He has visited almost every search and relief camp, hospital, and locality near his hometown of Betrawati, as well as areas downstream. Betrawati is situated in Nuwakot district, just north of Kathmandu and on the border of Rasuwa district, which bore the brunt of the flash floods.

Although it typically takes two hours to reach the village, after the floods it takes around four hours. On Wednesday, when the Bhotekoshi river burst its banks, Adhikari's wife, son, and daughter managed to reach higher ground to escape the torrential waters, but his elderly parents did not. Adhikari recounted finding out about three bodies discovered on the roof of a building in his village, but they were not his parents.

He expressed his intention to continue searching for them for another two weeks and then proceed with their final rites if they weren't found by then.

35-year-old Navin Tamang, who was working in Malaysia at the time of the flooding, remains hopeful that his wife and two daughters might still be alive. Despite the harsh conditions in the valley, trapping intense heat and humidity, Tamang continues his relentless search, climbing up steep mountain sides and visiting village after village in the hope of finding his family.

Tashbir Tamang, 35, has been trekking through the mountainous terrain, searching village after village, in the hopes of finding his 28-year-old sister, Rashmi Tamang, and her daughters Monica and Manisha. The intense heat and humidity in the valley have made the search even more difficult, with temperatures reaching up to 35 degrees Celsius.