Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Nepal is relying on DNA testing to identify bodies recovered after the August 26 floods, as hundreds of families continue to search for relatives who are missing. The process has become central to efforts to establish the identities of those killed and to help families end days of uncertainty.
For one family, that search has turned deeply personal. When Amrit Diyali saw a human hand washed downstream by floodwaters, he was struck by how closely it resembled that of his younger brother Raj Kumar, who has been missing along with his wife and four-year-old son since the floods.
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According to The Kathmandu Post, Amrit’s nephew Avinash sent him a photograph of the severed hand and said, “I found a hand that looks exactly like uncle’s.” For Amrit, the discovery brought both hope and dread, and a DNA test is now the family’s only chance of knowing whether the remains belong to his brother.
Police have so far collected 2,272 DNA samples, including 1,260 from bodies and 1,012 from relatives, as they try to identify those killed in the disaster, The Kathmandu Post reported. Authorities said 1,030 bodies had been buried after DNA samples were collected and other identification procedures were completed. The figure includes 222 women, 355 men and 453 bodies whose sex could not be established, the report said.
Raj Kumar Diyali, 33, his 30-year-old wife Shriti and their four-year-old son Siraj were living in Syaphrubesi in Rasuwa district when the Bhotekoshi flood struck. Their relatives searched along the river as far as Chitwan and Nawalpur, turning over mud and stones in the hope of finding the family. When they could not find them alive, they began looking for their bodies.
Five days after the flood, Avinash found the hand in Nawalpur. Amrit sent a sample from it to the National Forensic Science Laboratory in Kathmandu on Tuesday for DNA testing. According to him, the sample is 182nd in line for testing. “We have stopped hoping for anything else,” he told The Kathmandu Post. “Even if that hand turns out to be my brother’s, at least we would know for sure.”
The flood hit the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa, near Nepal’s northern border with China, before causing widespread destruction downstream, leaving hundreds dead and thousands missing. The scale of the disaster has made identification difficult, with many bodies recovered from the river and flood debris in poor condition.
To make the process easier for families, Nepal Police has opened a DNA sample collection centre in Bidur, Nuwakot, so relatives of missing people can provide samples without travelling to Kathmandu, the Ratopati news portal reported. Deputy Inspector General of Nepal Police Hospital Dr Damodar Poudel said samples from close blood relatives such as parents, children and siblings are particularly useful for comparison with DNA obtained from unidentified bodies. According to Poudel, DNA testing will help in identification because there are difficulties in identifying the bodies.
Authorities have also uploaded details of 1,270 unidentified bodies on the Nepal Police website so families can check whether their missing relatives are among those recovered, The Kathmandu Post reported. For families such as the Diyalis, the process is not only about identification, but also about getting certainty and being able to perform the final rites of their loved ones.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
