Photos: Nepal begins burying flood victims in mass graves

What the report says

Nepal has begun burying victims of last week’s catastrophic floods and mudslides in mass graves after authorities took DNA samples, according to Al Jazeera’s report based on Reuters coverage. The disaster, which struck on August 26, was triggered by a high-altitude glacial collapse and sent freezing water, rocks and debris cascading through Himalayan valleys. Officials said the scale of the tragedy has made it impossible to store or identify all bodies individually.

At a burial site in Chitwan district, unidentified victims were being laid to rest as Hindu funeral rites of cremation, prayer and farewell were overtaken by the emergency response. The report said police and health workers were handling the recoveries and transfers, while search teams continued looking for survivors and the missing. Authorities said DNA sampling was being used before burial because of the large number of dead and the difficulty of identification.

Nepalese officials said on Tuesday that 1,003 bodies had been recovered and 3,916 people remained missing. Searchers also found 24 bodies in one house in Nuwakot district, and at least 17 bodies were recovered from rivers far downstream in India. Prime Minister Balendra Shah called the disaster “unimaginable and heartbreaking,” underscoring the scale of the damage and the strain on local recovery efforts.