Govt plans to cremate unidentified bodies from Thursday

KATHMANDU, April 30: Fearing possible spread of infections and with the number of dead bodies piling up beyond the capacity of its mortuary, the government is preparing to cremate 31 unidentified bodies recovered from different areas of the Kathmandu Valley by Thursday evening.

The authorities are planning to dispose the unidentified bodies kept in the mortuary at the TU Teaching Hospital as per the government directives on the management of dead bodies during disaster. "We are not in a position to keep the dead bodies longer as they have started decaying," said Deputy Inspector General Bam Bahadur Bhandari, who is a member of the committee formed to manage the unidentified dead bodies.

Of the total unidentified bodies, majority are males with most recovered from the debris of Dharahara, according to the Nepal Police.

In line with the international practices of disposing the dead bodies during the disaster, the authorities have completed necessary requirements such as taking finger prints, photographs of different body parts, collecting DNA samples, notting down specific signs in the body, sample of clothes in their body and location they were recovered them.

"We will cremate those bodies in specific areas and keep the remains safely so that we can hand them over to their relatives when they come to claim them in future," he said.

We have appealed to the families and friends of those who are said to be missing to visit the mortuary and identify them at the earliest, said the DIG Kamal Singh Bam, spokesperson of Nepal Police.

We are waiting for the government instruction to immediately carryout the cremation of unidentified dead bodies as a large number of dead bodies are being recovered, police spokesperson Bam said.

Although we were supposed to wait longer before disposing the dead bodies, we are running short to ice and other required chemicals, police officials said.

The committee to manage the dead bodies comprises the members from PM's office, Home Ministry, Local Development Ministry, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force.

The police said about 148 people are still reported missing in the Kathmandu Valley. About 4,733 dead bodies have been handed over to their respective families in 31 districts.

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