KATHMANDU : Nearly two months after the deadly Bhotekoshi flash flood, families of people who remain missing are still living with uncertainty as they await DNA test results that could establish the fate of their loved ones.

For Anlal Rokaya of Thapuwa, Ward No. 20 of Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City, the wait has been particularly painful. Three members of his family disappeared in the disaster, and authorities have yet to provide the DNA results needed to determine whether their bodies are among those recovered after the flood.

Rokaya lost his 19-year-old son, Dipak Rokaya, his 53-year-old elder brother, Sher Singh Rokaya, and his 56-year-old sister-in-law, Bishnumati Rokaya, in the flash flood on August 26.

Dipak had travelled to Rasuwa to meet his brother and visit Gosaikunda. Instead, the journey ended in tragedy, leaving the family without any confirmed information about his whereabouts.

“We spent this year’s Dashain waiting for the DNA results of our missing family members,” Rokaya said. “We have neither found them alive nor received their bodies. We do not even know how to complete the traditional rites.”

The disappearance of Dipak has deepened the family’s hardship. As the only son expected to take responsibility for supporting and caring for the household, his absence has left the family facing both emotional and practical difficulties.

“If they have died, why have their bodies not been found?” Rokaya asked.

He said the family had gradually lost hope of seeing the three relatives return alive. They had provided biological samples to authorities so that DNA comparisons could be conducted with unidentified bodies recovered following the disaster. However, the results have not yet been received.

The delay has also left the family unable to complete customary funeral and mourning rituals.

Rokaya urged the government to provide families with timely and clear information about missing people and those presumed to have died in the disaster.

“We have neither recovered our family members nor received their bodies. How can we perform their final rites?” he said.

He added that the family was prepared to carry out the necessary religious and cultural rituals once authorities formally establish the status of the missing relatives in accordance with the applicable procedures.

Rokaya’s family is not alone in facing such uncertainty.

Sixteen-year-old Subash Nepali, his 11-year-old brother Ashwin and their nine-year-old sister Smarika are also waiting for information about their parents, Aram Damai and Ujana Damai. The couple had travelled to Rasuwa in search of employment but went missing following the disaster.

According to Subash, the children are also waiting for DNA test results that could confirm what happened to their parents.

The prolonged wait has placed additional emotional pressure on families already struggling to cope with loss and uncertainty.

Chankra Bahadur Buda, chairperson of Ward No. 20 of Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City, said the local government had been providing support and consolation to families affected by the disaster.

The local government is also assisting bereaved households with essential needs and coordinating educational support for children who lost their parents in the flood.

For families like the Rokayas and Nepalis, however, assistance cannot erase the uncertainty. Until DNA results or other official confirmation establish the fate of their missing relatives, they remain caught between hope and grief, unable to fully mourn and unable to move forward.