219 more Tamils traced in Nepal, set to return today, says Rajmohan

219 more Tamils traced in Nepal, set to return today, says Rajmohan 

31.08.2026 TIMES OF INDIA CHENNAI EDITION

Chennai: State school education minister A Rajmohan said 219 more people who had travelled from Tamil Nadu to Nepal have been traced. “We have gathered information that as many as 319 people from Tamil Nadu had travelled to Nepal in batches. We have found that 219 people are safe and secure. They will be reaching Chennai by Aug 31. 

The remaining one hundred-odd people are missing,” Rajmohan told reporters at Chennai airport late on Saturday night after his return from New Delhi. The minister said govt was not only focusing on tracing the pilgrims who travelled from Tamil Nadu, but also Tamils who went to Nepal from places such as Bengaluru and Malaysia. 

So far 21 Tamils who managed to escape the flash floods in Bhotekoshi river were brought to Delhi and flown to Chennai. Rajmohan said they were part of a 57 member group who travelled through a Thanjavur based agency. The remaining members remain untraceable, he said. While chief minister C Joseph Vijay had deputed four ministers to New Delhi to coordinate with central agencies on the rescue efforts, minister for non-resident Tamils welfare department K Thennarasu continued to camp in Delhi and facilitate the return of rescued Tamils. Rajmohan said the belongings of the missing people were found far from the place they were last seen. “The terrain is tough. Armed forces of two countries are involved in rescue efforts. Everyone is working together,” he said. Times News Network

Search intensifies for 900 missing at hydel units, 1 tunnel head located

Search intensifies for 900 missing at hydel units, 1 tunnel head located 

FULL COVERAGE: P 5, 16 

Deaths Rise To 810, Over 3,000 Missing 

Vishant Agarwala & Kalyan Das 

Nuwakot (Nepal)/Dehradun: Time running out for more than 900 people missing from Nepal’s flood-hit hydropower projects, rescue teams led by Nepalese Army personnel intensified operations to search for survivors, particularly at Upper Trishuli-3A, where they located the tunnel’s crown head and began widening an opening to send rescuers inside with oxygen cylinders. 

While the Independent Power Producers’Association Nepal said 537 workers and staff were unaccounted for across nine projects, Nepal’s disaster management authority, NDRRMA, stated that 933 workers from hydropower projects were untraced. The number of dead rose to 810 Sunday — 794 in Nepal and 16 reported in Tibet — with 3,048 missing across both countries, as search ops entered a fifth day. 

NDRRMA listed 2,502 people missing and Tibet another 546. Nepal said 592 foreign nationals were among those missing, besides 127 Nepalese citizens travelling with foreign groups. MEA said at 5.30pm Sunday that 149 Indian nationals had been rescued in Nepal. Its latest missing-person tally, issued Saturday night, listed 275 Indian nationals missing or uncontactable and another 128 people of Indian origin as uncontactable. India had also not announced a confirmed number of Indian deaths by Sunday evening. 

Efforts to hunt for survivors at the nine hydropower projects picked up pace as weather improved slightly. Road access to Upper Trishuli-3A remained cut off, forcing Nepalese Army to airlift dismantled excavators, bulldozers and other earth-moving machinery to the project area using helicopters. Joint teams operated the machines through the night despite rain and moved closer to the tunnel entry point. Nepalese Army spokesperson Brig Gen Rajaram Basnet told TOI that the team, which included tunnel experts, had located the crown head — the main section — of Trishuli 3A using excavators and hydraulic cutters. “A hole of 2x3ft was dug, which revealed a water surface spanning a diameter of around seven metres and extending to a significant height. An  expert from the army rescue team entered the hole area and assessed the situation while looking for any human life there, but with no luck so far,” Basnet said. Photo: AFP

Nepal begins shallow burials after preserving DNA; only 29 flood victims identified so far

Nepal begins shallow burials after preserving DNA; only 29 flood victims identified so far 

School Ties, Jewellery Become Clues As Unidentified Victims Get Tracking Code 

Vishant.Agarwala@timesofindia.com 31.08.2026

Nuwakot, Nepal: Authorities in Nepal began temporarily burying unidentified victims of Bhote Koshi-Trishuli-Narayani flood in shallow graves after collecting DNA and forensic evidence as morgues overflowed and remains recovered far downstream became increasingly difficult to identify. 

An update issued on Sunday evening said only 29 of the 650-plus bodies had been identified even as recoveries continued along the roughly 200km river system. Nepal Police spokesperson DIG Abi Narayan Kafle told TOI that 211 of the first 669 recovered remains were mutilated, partial or severed. “Many remains were buried under thick mud and water for two to three days,” he said. 

Bodies swept dozens of km from Rasuwa were recovered in Nuwakot, Chitwan, Gorkha, Tanahun and Nawalparasi, far from where victims disappeared. Chitwan became the biggest pressure point. By Sunday, 259 bodies had been recovered along Trishuli and Narayani riverbanks but only nine identified. 

Authorities began moving unidentified remains to Devghat forest after post-mortem and DNA collection, with 26 placed underground in the first batch. The process was designed so that burial does not end a family’s search for closure — every body was assigned an identification number; photographs, physical features, clothes, jewellery and other belongings were recorded, while DNA, fingerprints and other forensic samples were preserved. Burial locations were geo-tagged so remains could later be located if relatives established identity. “If family members come forward in the future to claim a missing relative, these scientific and legal records will allow us to confirm identity and locate the exact burial plot,” Kafle said. Gorkha district also buried 29 unidentified bodies and body parts after collecting DNA. “Gorkha does not have sufficient mortuary facilities, and bodies are being recovered every day,” chief district officer Tulsi Prasad Shrestha said. 

For families, identification increasingly depended on small personal details. More than 1,000 relatives reached Pokhara on Saturday to examine photographs of 102 bodies brought from downstream districts. Police said families recognised loved ones through tattoos, necklaces, earrings and even school uniforms. One father from Bidur identified his five-year-old son after seeing a photograph online. The clues were the child’s school tie, necklace and earring. “Where faces are not recognisable, relatives are identifying bodies through other things on their person,” police inspector Deepak Rijal said. “More relatives are continuing to arrive.” Getty Images Marker plates are prepared for the unidentified victims. They will be buried at a mass burial site at Devghat forest in Bharatpur