Nepalese authorities completed search and rescue operations on 5 October following catastrophic August floods near the Chinese border that left 56 Ukrainians missing.
The natural disaster has claimed at least 1,455 lives, while at least 5,285 people remain missing, according to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The missing list includes 261 foreign nationals, while authorities in neighboring China have confirmed 43 deaths on their side of the border.
The heavy flooding began on 26 August near Nepal's border with the Tibet region of China. Settlements across the region, including Devighat in Nepal, suffered severe damage as floodwaters swept through mountain valleys.
Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia situated along the Himalayan mountain range, bordered by India to the south and China's Tibet Autonomous Region to the north. The high-altitude region contains numerous steep river valleys that are highly susceptible to sudden hydrometeorological disasters during monsoon seasons.
Transition from search to recovery
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that ending the active search and rescue operation does not mean stopping searches or closing investigations into the disappearances. Rescue services in Nepal are continuing work to search for and identify human remains.
Phanindra Paudel, head of the National Emergency Operation Centre, told Reuters that authorities were transitioning from the search and rescue phase to the search and recovery phase. He noted that emergency services would now focus on recovery work across affected districts.
Paudel said authorities were examining legal mechanisms that would allow missing individuals to be officially recognized as deceased. He explained that officials were initiating procedures to fulfill necessary legal formalities so families could resolve matters related to bank accounts, insurance payouts, and other legal processes.
In major natural disasters where bodies cannot be recovered immediately, governments establish legal procedures to issue presumption of death certificates. Official death declarations enable surviving relatives to access financial accounts, settle estates, and claim insurance benefits without waiting for years under standard missing persons laws.
Ukrainian consular and forensic response
Following the announcement by Nepalese authorities, the Embassy of Ukraine in India sent an official note to competent authorities regarding the proper documentation procedures for deaths when human remains cannot be found or identified.
The National Police of Ukraine is continuing a pre-trial investigation into the missing citizens and is establishing a database of DNA profiles from relatives. These genetic profiles will be transferred to foreign authorities to aid in identifying recovered remains.
Ukraine maintains diplomatic relations with Nepal through its embassy in New Delhi, India, which oversees consular protection for Ukrainian citizens in the region. Comparative DNA profiling is the primary international forensic standard used to establish victim identities when physical remains are unidentifiable.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the case remains under the direct control of the ministry, the consular service, and Ukraine's diplomatic missions in both India and China.
Recovery operations and climate impact
Dharam Raj Upreti, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said the active phase of searching for bodies had ended. However, he stated that response services conducting restoration work will continue to extract any discovered remains, personal property, and other valuables.
Upreti added that emergency rescue operations will still be carried out in the future if specific circumstances require them.
Authorities initially identified the cause of the disaster as an earthquake that triggered a glacial avalanche. However, official assessments in Nepal and China now attribute the flooding to the melting and instability of glaciers linked to global warming.
The Himalayan region has experienced accelerated glacial melt in recent decades due to rising global temperatures. Thermal instability in glaciers can create large meltwater lakes behind natural ice or moraine dams, which pose a constant threat of catastrophic outburst floods when the retaining barriers breach.
