Archive · 3 Sep 2026
Nepal Families Hold Symbolic Funerals for Flood Victims
Huge floods swept through parts of Nepal after the Trishuli and Bhote Kosi rivers rose suddenly.
More than 1,200 people have reportedly died, and over 4,000 are still missing.
Many families cannot find the bodies of their loved ones.
Because of this, they are making straw and grass figures to represent the missing people.
Priests then perform funeral ceremonies for these figures.
Bodies have also been found downstream in the Narayani River.
Some are waiting to be identified in hospitals, while others are being temporarily buried.
DNA samples may help match the bodies with families later.
The symbolic funerals give families a way to say goodbye while they wait for answers.
Families in Nepal are cremating straw and grass effigies for flood victims whose bodies remain missing.
Flash floods in the Trishuli and Bhote Kosi rivers reportedly killed more than 1,200 people and left over 4,000 missing.
More than 150 unidentified bodies are awaiting identification at Tribhuvan Hospital in Kathmandu.
More than 350 bodies have been recovered in Chitwan after washing downstream into the Narayani River.
Authorities are temporarily burying unidentified bodies after collecting DNA samples for future family matches.
- Who
- Families of people missing after Nepal’s flash floods, along with priests, hospitals, and recovery teams.
- What
- Families are holding symbolic Hindu funerals using straw and grass effigies because many victims’ bodies have not been recovered or identified.
- When
- The ceremonies are taking place after flash floods that struck the previous week; DNA identification may take weeks.
- Where
- At Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, along the Trishuli River in Nuwakot, and in areas around Chitwan and the Narayani River.
- Why
- Families are seeking closure and a final farewell while authorities recover, temporarily bury, and identify bodies.
- Reported deaths
- More than 1,200 people
- People missing
- More than 4,000
- Bodies awaiting identification
- More than 150 at Tribhuvan Hospital in Kathmandu
- Bodies recovered in Chitwan
- More than 350
- Rivers linked to flooding
- Trishuli and Bhote Kosi
- Downstream river
- Narayani River
- Identification method
- DNA samples are being collected for family matching