India, Sept. 1 -- A 19-member team of DNA experts from India has begun a painstaking task of collecting, preserving and analysing biological samples to identify hundreds of victims of the devastating flash floods in Nepal, and ultimately helping authorities in returning the bodies to their family members.

Divided into six teams, the Indian delegation for Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) comprises 10 experts from the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar and nine from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) in Delhi.

On Monday, the teams, led by Bhargav Patel, head of the Centre of Excellence in DNA Forensics at NFSU, in coordination with experts from Nepal Police's Central Forensic Science Laboratory in...