Pokhara: The devastating floods in Nepal have left behind a trail of unprecedented destruction, claiming over 1,000 lives and leaving more than 4,000 people missing. Amidst the catastrophic aftermath, a deeply tragic situation has unfolded at a government hospital in Pokhara, highlighting the harrowing reality faced by grieving relatives trying to locate their loved ones.
At the centre of this heartbreak is an unidentified corpse tagged as “Body Number 1003.” Initially, three different families approached the hospital authorities, each desperately believing the remains belonged to their missing relative. While one family eventually withdrew its claim on Monday, two families remain locked in a painful dispute over the deceased.
The remains are currently being claimed by the families of Gopal Dahit, a hydropower worker from Bardiya, and Damodar Basyal, a tourist guide from Rupandehi.
According to local reports, Dahit went missing while working on a hydropower project in Rasuwa. His sister, Manji Tharu, along with other relatives, travelled from Bardiya to Gaidakot. After reviewing photographs of recovered bodies, they identified Body 1003 as Gopal. However, when the Dahit family reached the hospital in Pokhara to claim the remains and take them home, they discovered that the Basyal family had already arrived and staked their claim.
The conflicting identifications are rooted in physical similarities. The Basyal family asserts that several physical marks on the body perfectly match their missing relative, Damodar. Conversely, the Dahit family insists that the facial structure, teeth, forehead, lips, hands, and chest strongly resemble Gopal.
To resolve the heartbreaking impasse, both families have agreed to undergo DNA testing. Police officials confirmed that DNA samples from the body have already been collected for forensic analysis.
However, the families’ agonising wait is far from over. Authorities have informed them that the DNA test results could take up to a month and a half. The significant delay is due to an overwhelming backlog of samples currently being processed at the Nepal Police Laboratory and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, as authorities work round the clock to identify hundreds of flood victims.
As the Himalayan nation grapples with one of its deadliest natural disasters, the dispute over Body Number 1003 serves as a grim reminder of the immense human toll and the excruciating uncertainty haunting thousands of families.