Nepal Floods: Chitwan District Turns to Temporary Burials as Bodies Pile Up

In the wake of catastrophic flash floods and mudslides that have killed at least 800 people and left over 3,000 missing across Nepal and Tibet, authorities in south-central Nepal's Chitwan district are facing an unprecedented challenge: managing the sheer number of bodies being recovered.

Around 250 bodies are currently awaiting identification in the district. Many were carried hundreds of kilometers downstream by the Bhotekoshi River from the flood's epicenter before being recovered. With forensic teams overwhelmed and morgue capacity exhausted, officials have begun burying the dead in temporary graves.

On Saturday, authorities conducted a temporary burial of about 100 victims. An excavator dug a wide trench in a forested area as officials looked on. Police Inspector Anil Thapa said another 50 bodies were having DNA samples taken ahead of a likely burial on Sunday. The bodies, many of which had been submerged for about four days and were already decomposing, are being photographed and assigned reference numbers to help families claim them later.

The decision has sparked criticism in Nepal, a predominantly Hindu nation where the dead are traditionally cremated. Ruby Chaudhary, who has two missing relatives, said the burials should not proceed without families' consent, stating, "The dead deserve to be treated with dignity." Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai also questioned the move, suggesting authorities could have set up temporary morgues or secured cold storage instead of disposing of unidentified bodies before search and rescue operations were complete.

Officials defend the burials as a temporary measure necessitated by health concerns. High humidity and heat are accelerating decomposition, and health experts warn that leaving remains exposed could increase disease risk. "People are worried that this could be a permanent burial, but it is only temporary management," Thapa said, adding that families can later verify identities using the recorded information and perform appropriate funeral rites.

Nepal's Foreign Secretary, Amrit Bahadur Rai, stated that the temporary burial of unidentified bodies follows internationally accepted disaster-management protocols, including those of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and that families will be allowed to exhume remains for necessary rituals.

Meanwhile, fresh landslides on Sunday closed the main highway linking Kathmandu and Chitwan, a day after it partially reopened, complicating efforts to move bodies and relief supplies.