Pasukan SMART akan pulang, serah dron kepada penyelamat Nepal

Malaysia's Special Task Force for Search and Rescue (SMART) is expected to return to the country by today or tomorrow after assisting in the search for 55 missing Malaysian nationals in Nepal's devastating floods. Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan stated that all drones brought from Malaysia will be handed over to the Nepalese rescue team to aid their ongoing search efforts.

He clarified that Nepal has not requested to terminate the search operation, as approximately 5,000 people remain unaccounted for. The last known location of these missing individuals was in the hardest-hit areas, according to Hasan, during a visit to the Malaysian House of Representatives in 2026. He also discussed the SMART operation's progress in locating the 55 missing Malaysians.

Hasan informed that the Malaysian embassy in Kathmandu is negotiating with Nepal's Foreign and Legal Ministries to obtain confirmation of the missing nationals' status for heirs to obtain necessary documentation, particularly for insurance and other claims. According to him, Nepalese law allows only individual death certificates to be issued after three years, as opposed to seven years in Malaysia.

Consequently, Putrajaya is also working to facilitate cooperation with Nepal to enable DNA samples found of the missing to be sent to Kuala Lumpur for matching with the heirs of the lost Malaysian nationals. He noted that Nepal faces a shortage of facilities and equipment for conducting DNA matching processes.