Jhapa, Sept. 5 -- When Amrit Diyali saw a human hand washed downstream by floodwaters, his heart sank.

The hand was beginning to decompose, caked in mud and dust. But what struck Amrit most was how much it resembled his younger brother Raj Kumar's.

The devastating flood that swept through the Bhotekoshi river on August 26 left Raj Kumar Diyali, 33, his 30-year-old wife Shriti, and their four-year-old son Siraj, missing. The family, from ward 2 of Buddhshanti Rural Municipality in Jhapa, had been living in Syaphrubesi, Rasuwa, where Raj Kumar had run a jewellery business for about 15 years.

There has been no word from any of them since.

In the days after the flood, relatives travelled as far as Chitwan and Nawalpur searching for their ...