Rourkela: On Saturday evening, Bargarh engineer Gunnam Jaykrishna, aged 38, returned to his hometown in Sarala village, located within the Jampali gram panchayat, after struggling to find his missing wife and two-year-old daughter following the catastrophic flash floods in Nepal. Despite extensive efforts, there has been no sign of his family.
In light of their disappearance, DNA samples were collected from Jaykrishna’s brother-in-law in Kathmandu to facilitate matching with unidentified remains or bodies being recovered in the aftermath of the disaster. Authorities in Nepal are actively collecting DNA samples from the immediate relatives of those reported missing due to the floods.
Jaykrishna, a mechanical engineer involved in the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Rasuwa district, was fortunate to be at a higher elevation when the floods struck on August 26, thereby saving his life. However, his wife, Gunnam Sai Bindu, 25, and their child, Harixa, who were at home in a nearby village, were not as fortunate and remain untraceable as their residence was engulfed by the floodwaters.
The day after the flood, Jaykrishna was airlifted to Kathmandu along with other survivors. Later that evening, he managed to contact his family back in Odisha, conveying the distressing news of his wife and daughter being missing. In the chaos, his travel documents were also lost. Concerned relatives in Bargarh subsequently requested the local sub-collector to assist in facilitating Jaykrishna’s return home.
Although the Ministry of External Affairs helped prepare his travel documents, Jaykrishna opted to remain in Nepal to continue the search for his loved ones, supported by his company. As the search proved fruitless, officials reached out to Bindu’s family for DNA matching purposes. Bindu’s brother, along with Jaykrishna’s elder brother, Dinesh Choudhury, traveled to Kathmandu to provide the necessary DNA samples.
After completing the required procedures, Jaykrishna returned to India on a flight from Kathmandu to Delhi, accompanied by his brother-in-law and elder brother. They subsequently took a domestic flight from Delhi to Jharsuguda, and then traveled by road to their village. Upon arrival, Dinesh expressed deep concern over the ongoing plight of Jaykrishna’s wife and daughter.
