Nearly a thousand people have died in the flash floods that hit Nepal, with the number of missing approaching five thousand. About a thousand people remain trapped in tunnels following the tragedy.
Faced with the overload caused by the high number of dead and without the capacity to keep all bodies refrigerated until they could be identified by their families, Nepalese authorities began on Saturday burying the first victims in common graves, in an attempt to avoid health risks arising from the decomposition of bodies.
The measure generated outrage and controversy in the country, which has a Hindu majority, where funeral rituals have great religious and cultural importance. The affected families expressed their protest against the authorities' decision to proceed with collective burials without the possibility of prior identification.
