Nepal DNA-tests 3,685 samples after devastating flood — Dawn

In Nepal, forensic laboratories are conducting DNA testing on thousands of samples to establish the identities of people killed in massive flooding. As Dawn reports, the country's authorities have recovered 1,454 bodies, although about one-third of them are only fragments of remains. Families have been handed over 112 identified bodies.

In Nepal, 5,285 people are missing, including hundreds of foreigners. In China, according to state media, 43 people have died and another 519 are considered missing. Overall, the death toll in the two countries is approaching 1,500, while the number of missing people is nearing 5,800.

Thousands of samples for comparison

The flooding was caused by a wave of icy water and debris that formed after a glacier and rocks collapsed on the Nepal-China border on August 26. Some bodies were carried far downstream by the water, complicating their identification.

Two forensic laboratories in Kathmandu are processing 3,685 samples, including more than 1,300 taken from recovered remains. Mukul Pradhan, chief scientific officer at the National Forensic Science Laboratory, noted that the laboratory usually analyses between 1,000 and 1,500 samples per year, mainly in paternity cases or criminal investigations.

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Blood samples are easier to analyse, while examining teeth or bones can take several days. Nepalese authorities have buried more than 1,200 bodies after numbering and marking them so that the remains can be exhumed if a DNA match is established.

Help from international specialists

Nirajan Thapa, head of the biology department at the National Forensic Science Laboratory, explained that one DNA profile from remains is not enough: it must be compared with a sample from a relative. Therefore, specialists must process materials from both unidentified remains and thousands of family members of missing people.

Teams from India, China and South Korea have provided assistance to Nepal. Fingerprint experts from the United States and Singapore have also joined the work. According to Thapa's assessment, with such support, sample matching could begin within a few weeks.

Fifty-three-year-old Rajesh Ram, whose son Suroj Kumar went missing in flooded Betravati, told AFP that he had unsuccessfully searched for his son's body. Some families have already held symbolic cremation ceremonies for those missing.