By Sahana Bajracharya
CHITWAN, Nepal Aug 30 (Reuters) - Nepal's scenic Chitwan district, known for its forests and rivers, has become the site of mass burials for hundreds of unidentified victims whose bodies were swept away by the torrent that devastated the Himalayan region days ago.
In the plains, nearly 200 kilometers from the flood-ravaged valleys of Rasuwa where the disaster struck on Wednesday, authorities have dug hundreds of graves in Chitwan's Devghat forest.
Until recently, the forest trails
were a popular spot for morning walks. They now serve as a temporary burial ground for bodies too badly decomposed to be identified.
"We were left with no other option and had to take this step. Our concern was the risk to public health posed by the rapid decomposition of the bodies," said Ganesh Arya, chief district officer of Baratpur, Chitwan.
Authorities buried 96 unidentified bodies in the forest on Saturday and planned to bury more than 100 others on Sunday, as recovery teams continue to retrieve victims from rivers and piles of debris.
About 750 people have been killed and more than 3,000 are reported missing after a flash flood triggered by a glacial collapse swept through valleys along Nepal's border with China, causing catastrophic damage.
Around 100 rescue workers, police officers and other officials were helping to document the dead, photographing remains, helping relatives with identification and preparing bodies for burial.
Authorities said every burial site was carefully recorded, with identification markers placed both above and below ground and precise location data logged.
DNA samples were collected from the unidentified dead by the Nepali authorities, allowing them to locate and exhume remains if victims are identified later through family claims, official records or genetic testing.
India has already sent a forensic team that will be working with their Nepali counterparts to support the analysis of DNA samples. Nepal is also liaising with a team from China.
GRIM SCENES AND STENCH
At Bharatpur Hospital, the stench of decomposition began at the gate, about 200 metres (yards) from a temporary morgue where around 50 police officers and hospital workers handled recovered bodies, most wearing only basic surgical masks.
Officials briefly allowed a Reuters reporter to view the facility from the entrance.
About 125 bodies lay inside on the floor, with many showing advanced decomposition after days in floodwaters, overwhelming a mortuary designed to handle just 50 bodies.
"The bodies are decaying fast," said Inspector Anil Thapa, who is overseeing one of several facilities handling the dead in the disaster-stricken district.
"Of the bodies we have recovered so far, more than half are beyond recognition," Thapa told Reuters. "Many have no visible faces."
A few hundred metres away, the Chitwan Expo Centre has become the focal point for grieving families searching for missing relatives.
More than 200 people gathered outside a hall where photographs of recovered bodies were expected to be displayed to allow visual identification. Many in the crowd carried backpacks and luggage, suggesting they had travelled from distant districts.
Several families said they had arrived the previous day but had still not been allowed inside the hall.
Nearby, an ageing single-storey house has been converted into a temporary storage facility for bodies awaiting identification.
Three tents stood outside the building, including a Nepal Red Cross helpdesk and a police registration point. Incense burned beneath the desks but provided little relief from the odour.
As the Reuters reporter approached, a police officer handed over a mask, while another instructed colleagues to replenish mask supplies if they ran low.
The dark interior contained rooms filled with body bags stacked on bunk beds. Dry ice sat near the entrances while air conditioners and an industrial cooling unit ran continuously in an effort to slow decomposition.
RECOVERY OPERATIONS IN FULL SWING
As recovery operations continued, a vehicle carrying 13 bodies arrived at the facility. By 10 a.m. local time, six ambulances were parked outside while another vehicle waited for space so it could unload.
Families waited outside for a chance to learn whether their loved ones were among those recovered.
The constant arrival of bodies underscored the scale of the disaster and the challenge facing authorities to identify the dead and provide answers to families still searching for missing relatives.
The toll was evident on those handling the bodies.
"Once I come here to work, I am unable to think about food," Thapa said, his uniform drenched with sweat. "Forget eating, I don't even feel like drinking water."
(Reporting by Sahana Bajracharya in Chitwan, Nepal; Writing by Aftab Ahmed and Anil D'Silva; Editing by Christina Fincher)
