India, Sept. 3 -- In the flood-ravaged hills of Nepal, drones are doing something far beyond their traditional role of taking aerial photographs or mapping - carrying the dead home.

Seven bodies were airlifted by drones this week from Devighat-3 in Nuwakot to Devighat-5, from an area so difficult and dangerous to navigate that rescuers could not safely reach it, according to a report published in The Kathmandu Post newspaper on Wednesday.

It was "perhaps their most unusual role yet", the report said. The drone team included personnel from Nepal Police, Nepal Army, and drone manufacturing company Garud X.

The unusual operation is the latest example of how drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are quietly becoming an ext...