Nepal's grim DNA puzzle to identify flood dead
NUWAKOT: Clutching a photograph of his missing son, Rajesh Ram is pinning his hopes on DNA testing – like thousands of others desperately seeking relatives swept away by Nepal’s catastrophic Himalayan floods.
In Nepal, the devastating Himalayan floods triggered by a glacial and rock collapse on August 26 have left a grim DNA puzzle to identify the deceased. Rajesh Ram, a 53-year-old father, is among thousands of families desperately hoping for answers through DNA testing. His son, Suroj Kumar, a garage mechanic from Betrawati, was swept away by the tsunami-like wall of water and debris.
Nepal has faced an immense task, with thousands of DNA profiles to process, fragmented remains, and limited technical capacity and manpower. As of now, only 112 bodies have been identified and returned to their families, while 5,285 people remain missing, including hundreds of foreigners. China has reported 43 deaths and 519 missing.
Nepali forensic laboratories, both in Kathmandu, are working tirelessly to profile samples and build a database on a scale they have never encountered before. Over 3,685 forensic samples are currently undergoing DNA testing, including more than 1,300 from recovered bodies. The process involves extracting DNA profiles from relatives and comparing them to those of unidentified remains, a laborious task with limited technical resources.
Despite the support from neighboring countries like India, China, South Korea, the United States, and Singapore, the matching process could still take weeks. The families of the missing face a painful limbo, with some even holding symbolic cremation funerals for their loved ones, hoping for a breakthrough in the identification process.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
