'Giant morgue': Nepal flood victims overwhelm downstream city

CHITWAN, Nepal - The miasma grew more potent the farther one walked, irritating the senses and inducing discomfort. Vendors hawking protective masks outside the hospital had cautioned us. One mask would prove insufficient, they asserted. Upon the Hankook Ilbo's arrival in Bharatpur during the sixth day of the extensive flooding, the entire city permeated with the stench of mortality, functioning as a colossal mortuary.

Bharatpur lies roughly 200 kilometers southwest of the disaster zone near the Tibetan frontier, a six-hour journey from the capital, Kathmandu. Bodies carried downstream accumulate here as the river current slows in the plains. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority of Nepal reported that, as of Saturday, 259 of the 675 bodies retrieved nationwide had surfaced in Chitwan district.

Bodies drifting in the river or beached upon the shore are transported to Bharatpur Hospital. Within the autopsy chamber, a somber tableau emerged as disjointed bodies scattered across the floor. In a workbench, personnel clad in full protective gear blasted water to sanitise a severed, remarkably swollen limb. Upon completion, they retrieved another body from the freeze.