Nepal flood victims found nearly 200km downstream in India

Seven bodies believed to have been swept out of Nepal by devastating flash floods have been recovered in neighbouring India, with the disaster carrying victims and debris nearly 200km downstream from the Himalayan region where the destruction began.

The bodies were found in rivers in the Uttar Pradesh districts of Maharajganj and Kushinagar, highlighting the extraordinary distance travelled by the floodwaters as they surged from the mountains of Nepal towards the Indian plains.

Four unidentified bodies were recovered in Maharajganj on Thursday, district magistrate Gaurav Singh Sogarwal told AFP.

“We think they have been swept into India from Nepal following flash floods there,” he said.

Three more bodies were recovered in Kushinagar, around 70km downstream from the India-Nepal frontier, a police official confirmed.

Authorities are trying to establish the identities of the victims.

The discoveries in India mark the far end of a trail of death and destruction stretching nearly 200km downstream from the area hit by Wednesday’s Himalayan collapse.

Bodies were recovered across several districts in Nepal, including Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitwan and Nawalparasi East, as floodwaters moved through interconnected river systems towards the Indian border.

Chitwan, which lies close to India, recorded 132 bodies — the highest number recovered in any Nepalese district.

The Narayani river in Nepal becomes the Gandak as it flows into India, providing a route through which floodwaters, debris and apparently some victims were carried across the international border.

At least 472 people have been reported killed in the disaster, including 469 whose bodies were recovered in Nepal and three in China, according to AFP. At least 1,400 others remain missing.

The seven bodies recovered in India have not been included in that toll.

The flood struck with extraordinary speed.

A seismic signal linked to the Himalayan collapse was recorded at 8.37am on Wednesday. Footage from the border area showed people fleeing shortly before a torrent tore through the narrow gorge, carrying away buildings and vehicles.

Sauharda Joshi, a hydrologist with Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, said the flood crossed into Nepal at around 8.40am and reached Syabrubesi roughly 10 minutes later.

“If we had been informed while the flood was building up in Tibet, human casualties could have been significantly minimised,” Joshi said.

Nepal’s Flood Forecasting Division received information about the major surge at 9.05am. More than 600,000 SMS warnings were subsequently sent to people living along riverbanks in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitwan.

By then, however, the disaster was already unfolding upstream.

As the flood travelled south, it moved through the Trishuli river and into the Narayani, carrying debris towards Nepal’s southern plains and eventually across the border into India through the Gandak.

The recovery of victims so far downstream offers a stark indication of the power of the torrent.

Indian border-security personnel were among those involved in recovering bodies from the river system.

The search for victims continues on both sides of the border as authorities attempt to account for the hundreds of people still missing.