After the rescue operation in Nepal was halted, the search for the 56 Ukrainians missing there will continue.
The Foreign Ministry reported this.
The ministry recalled that, according to updated figures from the competent authorities, the death toll in Nepal has risen to 1,455. A total of 5,285 people are considered missing. In China, the deaths of 43 people have been confirmed. There are 519 missing, including 261 foreigners.
“These figures show that this horrific natural disaster has led to a tragedy on an unprecedented scale — the disappearance of almost six thousand people, including foreign tourists, among them 56 of our fellow citizens. Unfortunately, despite weeks of efforts by diplomats, consular officials and rescuers, they have still not been found either among the dead or among the injured,” the ministry said.
They also add that the Nepalese government’s announcement that the 40-day active search-and-rescue operation has been completed does not mean that the search or the clarification of the circumstances of people’s disappearance has been stopped. Rescue services are continuing to search for and identify remains.
In connection with the Nepalese side beginning procedures to legally recognise missing persons as deceased, the Embassy of Ukraine in India has again sent a note to the country’s competent authorities regarding the procedure for officially documenting deaths in cases where remains cannot be found or identified.
Ukraine’s National Police are continuing the pre-trial investigation and are finalising the formation of a database of relatives’ DNA profiles for subsequent transfer to the foreign side. The case is under special supervision by the Foreign Ministry, the Consular Service Department and the Embassies of Ukraine in India and China.
- Nepal completed the search-and-rescue operation after a large-scale flood that occurred on 26 August on the border with Chinese Tibet and claimed the lives of at least 1,455 people.
- The flood destroyed 12 hydroelectric power plants, roads, bridges, agricultural land and settlements.
- According to the authorities’ estimates, Nepal needs almost $5bn for priority recovery and to assist thousands of people who were forced to leave their homes because of the natural disaster.