Nepalese authorities are struggling to preserve and identify bodies recovered after devastating flooding in the Bhotekoshi River system, as hospital morgues run out of space and refrigeration capacity. Bodies swept from Rasuwa and Nuwakot have been recovered in districts including Chitwan, Tanahun and Nawalparasi. By 9:30 a.m. Thursday, officials said 137 bodies had been recovered along the Trishuli and Narayani rivers in Chitwan, where recovery operations were continuing.

Morgues in Nuwakot, Dhading and Nawalparasi have already filled, while Pokhara faces similar pressure after receiving 93 bodies over two days from nearby districts. Chitwan hospitals can hold only 30 to 50 bodies at once. Authorities are converting an abandoned building in Bharatpur into a temporary morgue with capacity for about 250 bodies, using air conditioning and dry ice supplied with support from industrial and business associations.

Police are collecting photographs, fingerprints, autopsy records and DNA samples before unidentified bodies are buried under the 2021 management guidelines. Officials plan to publish photographs of recognizable bodies to help families identify relatives. Authorities are coordinating with local government to select burial sites and expect to bury bodies that remain unidentified within one to two weeks.