The Bihar government will conduct DNA tests on relatives to identify people from the state among those who died in the recent Nepal floods, officials said on Tuesday.
Flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, killing around 1,400 people, while more than 5,000 remain missing. Several bodies, found severely decomposed, remain unidentified.
The Ministry of External Affairs on September 3 said that 275 Indians remained missing.
On Tuesday, the state’s home department said relatives of those missing from Bihar can provide DNA samples through their local police or civic administration to identify the bodies.
In a statement, it said, “Police and administrative officials have been directed to extend all possible assistance to the affected families and provide them information on the procedure for submitting samples.”
The samples will be tested at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Patna, it said.
