Morgues full, Nepal struggles to identify bodies washed downstream

After being ravaged by flash floods that have killed hundreds and left more than 1,000 people unaccounted for, Nepal is now facing the challenge of storing and identifying bodies recovered from the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems. There is additional pressure as morgues in several Nepal districts reach or exceed capacity as remains continue to wash up far downstream.According to The Kathmandu Post, bodies swept away by the Bhotekoshi flood have been recovered across a wide stretch of central Nepal, including in Nuwakot, Chitwan, Tanahun and Nawalparasi. Authorities in several districts have been forced to move bodies elsewhere after local hospitals ran out of space, while temporary facilities are being prepared to cope with further recoveries.Chitwan has emerged as one of the main recovery points. As of 9.30 am on Thursday, 137 bodies had been recovered along the Chitwan stretch of the Trishuli and Narayani rivers, between Phishling and Golaghat, The Kathmandu Post reported. With hospital morgues able to accommodate only around 30 to 50 bodies at a time, officials were converting an unused government building in Bharatpur into a temporary storage centre.The facility is expected to hold around 250 bodies. Authorities plan to use air conditioners and dry ice to slow decomposition, while local industry and business groups have agreed to help arrange the dry ice, according to The Kathmandu Post. If the temporary facility also reaches capacity, officials have identified the electric crematorium at Devghat as another option. News agency PTI shared a video of relatives gathering outside the morgue at Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu where posters of flood victims had been put up.Founder and CEO of the Kathmandu-based MeroAdda LegalTech initiatives, Aalok Subedi, shared an image on X and wrote, "Family members and relatives trying to identify their loved ones from the picture of the bodies recovered from the flood, outside the morgue at the Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu."BODIES BEING TRANSFERRED TO POKHARA, BUT STORAGE A PROBLEM The crisis is also putting pressure on facilities in Pokhara, where bodies recovered in other districts are being transported for storage.A total of 93 bodies had been brought to Pokhara from Tanahun, Gorkha, Nawalparasi East and Dhading by Thursday, The Kathmandu Post reported. Hospitals and medical institutions in Kaski can collectively accommodate 88 bodies, meaning the number of flood victims transported to the city had already exceeded available capacity.Nine bodies arrived from Tanahun on Wednesday, followed by 41 from Nawalparasi East, 27 from Dhading and 11 from Gorkha on Thursday. Kaski Chief District Officer told The Kathmandu Post that the bodies had been accommodated for the time being, but further arrivals could require coordination with neighbouring districts.Storage itself presents another problem. Bodies at the Pokhara Academy of Health Science are being kept at temperatures between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius. Sushil Aryal, an information officer at the hospital, told The Kathmandu Post that remains can generally be preserved under those conditions for only around 10 days to two weeks. Longer-term storage would require facilities capable of maintaining sub-zero temperatures, which Pokhara does not currently have.The lack of space in hospitals is being compounded by the difficulty of identifying bodies that have travelled long distances through the river system.In Kaski, police follow a process that includes photographing bodies, recording fingerprints, conducting post-mortems and collecting DNA samples, Superintendent of Police Nabin Karki told The Kathmandu Post. Where possible, photographs are released publicly to help relatives establish whether a recovered body belongs to a missing family member. DNA samples are sent to Kathmandu for testing when required.Relatives of missing people have already begun travelling to Chitwan from districts including Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Gorkha, hoping to identify loved ones among the recovered remains. Some arrived carrying photographs of missing family members while authorities prepared the temporary storage facility.QR CODE FACILITY BY NEPAL POLICE HELPS KIN IDENTIFY FLOOD VICTIMSNepal Police has prepared a list of people who died in the floods in the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa, including bodies that have been recovered but are yet to be identified.According to the Kathmandu-based news portal OnlineKhabar, the list includes photographs of the unidentified bodies along with their physical descriptions and other details that could help families identify missing relatives.Nepal Police has made the list accessible through a QR code published on its official Facebook page. By scanning the code, people can view photographs and identifying details of the recovered bodies and check whether any of them could be their missing family members, the OnlineKhabhar reported.The police have made the list public as part of efforts to help families searching for relatives who have been missing since the flood identify their loved ones.BODY STORAGE PROBLEM BEYOND CHITWAN AND POKHARAThe problem extends beyond Chitwan and Pokhara too. In Gorkha, 11 bodies recovered from the Trishuli river were transferred to Gandaki Provincial Hospital in Pokhara after the local morgue ran out of space. By Thursday evening, 39 bodies had been recovered from areas of Gorkha bordering the river, The Kathmandu Post reported.Nawalparasi East has similarly had to send bodies to other districts after hospitals and government health facilities reached capacity. Forty-one bodies were transported to Pokhara and eight to Palpa, while others were being kept at hospitals in Madhyabindu, Gaindakot, Devchuli and Kawasoti. Officials were also preparing a community forest hall as another temporary morgue.Dhading authorities had recovered 37 bodies and human remains, including 13 body parts, by Thursday. Six bodies were sent to Kathmandu because local facilities lacked adequate storage and refrigeration, while the remaining remains were transferred to Pokhara, according to The Kathmandu Post.ALERT IN NEPAL OVER SECOND WAVE OF FLOODING The disaster has also complicated rescue operations upstream. The BBC reported that massive landslides and flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border have left hundreds dead or missing, with search and rescue teams continuing their work amid the risk of further flooding.Initial reports suggested an earthquake may have triggered the disaster. However, the US Geological Survey determined that the event was caused by a glacial collapse. The force of the collapsed glacier striking the valley floor registered as a magnitude 5.2 event, according to USGS data cited by the BBC. The resulting debris flow then caused catastrophic impacts downstream.A newly formed lake near the Nepal-Tibet border began overflowing on Friday, threatening to unleash a second deadly surge. The alert over that disrupted rescue work.With recovery efforts, authorities are preparing for more bodies to arrive. Under Nepal's Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies Management Guidelines, 2021, police are required to document and process remains before unidentified bodies can be buried. Officials are also considering designated burial sites and retaining identification records so that bodies can potentially be traced later.With rivers continuing to yield bodies and morgues already stretched beyond their normal capacity, Nepal's immediate challenge is no longer limited to finding those missing, but also preserving, documenting and identifying the dead as the recovery operation moves downstream.- EndsPublished By: Anand SinghPublished On: Aug 28, 2026 16:13 IST