When Amrit Diyali saw a human hand washed downstream by floodwaters, he was struck by how closely it resembled his younger brother Raj Kumar’s, who has been missing along with his wife and four-year-old son since the devastating floods hit Nepal.
To make the process easier for families, Nepal Police has opened a DNA sample collection centre in Bidur, Nuwakot, allowing relatives of missing people to provide samples without travelling to Kathmandu, the Ratopati news portal reported. “Even if that hand turns out to be my brother’s, at least we would know for sure. It has killed more than 1,300, while around 5,000 people remain missing. 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.
“We have stopped hoping for anything else,” he told The Kathmandu Post . Deputy Inspector General of Nepal Police Hospital 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.
For Mr. Diyali, the discovery brought both hope and dread. A DNA test is now his family’s only chance of knowing whether the remains belong to his brother.
The case reflects a much larger challenge facing Nepal, where authorities are relying on DNA testing to identify hundreds of bodies recovered after the August 26 floods and help families find relatives who remain missing. ALSO WATCH How a mountain collapse triggered Nepal’s deadly flood in just 7 minutes | The Climate Economy
