Bhubaneswar: With no word on 4 Odisha-origin persons missing in Nepal, their families have come forward for DNA profiling, hoping it will help trace their loved ones or identify them among the unidentified victims of the devastating flash floods.The missing are Sandeep Mohapatra and his wife Sidharthi Kumari Sahu, and Gunnam Saibindu Kumari and her 18-month-old daughter, Gunnam Hareeksha. Pritish Panda, nodal officer appointed by the Odisha govt to assist stranded people from the state, said officials had contacted all four families and begun DNA matching after they agreed to provide samples. Mohapatra from Khurda district was living in Australia since 2018. He and his wife Sidharthi were in Nepal on a religious visit. when their families lost contact after the floodsFor Saibindu’s husband, Gunnam Jay Krishna, the wait has been agonising. An engineer with Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, Krishna was at the site when disaster struck. His wife and daughter were in Saletar, about 14km away. “I was inside the project on the second floor for an inspection at around 8.30 am when this happened,” he said.The settlement was later unrecognisable. The flood and debris swept away the village, a company workers’ colony and a police station. “None of that exists now. There is mud all around. Only around 20 people from the area survived the disaster,” said Krishna, who was airlifted to Kathmandu.Saletar and nearby settlements along the Trishuli river basin were among areas severely hit by flash floods and debris flows. Krishna returned Tuesday to search for his wife and daughter but found no trace of them. He checked hospitals and shelters housing survivors but found no information. He underwent DNA profiling on Tuesday to help identify his daughter. In Bargarh, he asked his brother-in-law to coordinate with Odisha Parivar for family members’ DNA profiling. Samples will be sent to Nepal to match unidentified bodies.Saibindu is from Bargarh district, while Hareeksha was born in March last year. Officials said all four families were cooperating; samples will be matched with unidentified victims recovered during rescue and identification efforts in Nepal.
