Sindhupalchok, Sept. 2 -- After six days of searching hospitals and recovery sites without finding his body, the family of Raj Kumar Shrestha performed his funeral rites on Monday using an effigy of kusha grass.

The 30-year-old from ward 5 of Chautara Sangachokgadhi Municipality, Sindhupalchok, was heading towards Rasuwagadhi, where he worked as a driver, when the Bhotekoshi flood struck. His family said a driver sent them a photograph of a body resembling Raj Kumar on the very day of the devastating flood last Wednesday.

Raj Kumar's uncle Rabindra Shrestha said relatives travelled to Simtar in Nuwakot to identify and receive the body, but it had already been sent elsewhere.

"The family reached Simtar to collect the body, but it was no...