Missing UK Malayali Woman’s Children Give DNA Samples as 20-Member UK Rescue Team Joins Search in Nepal

LONDON Sept 2: The children of a 63-year-old UK-based Malayali woman who has been missing since devastating flash floods struck Nepal’s Rasuwagadhi region have submitted DNA samples to British authorities as efforts intensify to identify victims and trace those still unaccounted for.

Sunanda Manirajan, a native of Kollam who has lived in the UK for around four decades, went missing while travelling in Nepal with the Alpine Echo Trek group. Her disappearance came amid severe flooding that disrupted communications and swept through parts of the Rasuwagadhi region.

Sunanda’s daughters, Meera and Sumi, both based in the UK, provided DNA samples after being contacted by British authorities. According to the family, the samples are expected to be sent to Nepal, where they will be used as part of the ongoing process to identify bodies recovered from flood-affected areas and establish the whereabouts of those reported missing.

Sunanda’s husband, Manirajan, said British authorities had informed the family that the DNA matching and identification process could take approximately two weeks.

“UK authorities contacted our children and asked them to provide DNA samples. They told us that the samples would be sent to Nepal for further investigation and identification. We have been informed that the entire process may take around two weeks,” he said.

The family hopes that the DNA examination will provide crucial information and help establish whether Sunanda is among the victims whose bodies may have been recovered but not yet identified.

While the development has brought a new avenue of investigation, the family remains hopeful that she will be found alive.

Manirajan said the family has approached Kollam MP N. K. Premachandran and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking their intervention to intensify efforts to trace Sunanda and coordinate with the authorities involved in the search.

“We are hoping for a positive result and are still hopeful that Sunanda will be found,” he said.

Search operations have also received international support, with a 20-member rescue team from the United Kingdom reaching Nepal to assist efforts to trace people reported missing in the disaster.

According to Sunanda’s family, she was at the Nepal immigration and customs office for visa stamping when the disaster struck. The family last managed to communicate with her through WhatsApp on August 26. Contact was subsequently lost as the flooding affected the region and disrupted communication networks.

Her name has since been included in the official list of missing persons maintained by Nepalese authorities.

The family has been anxiously following developments from both the UK and India while continuing to explore every possible avenue to trace her. The latest DNA procedure has raised hopes that the family may finally receive definitive information about Sunanda’s fate.

Manirajan, a retired UK government official who is currently living in Paravur, said the family would continue pursuing all available channels until they receive clear information about what happened to Sunanda.

As rescue and identification efforts continue in Nepal, Sunanda’s family remains caught between hope and uncertainty, waiting for answers after days of anxious searches and interrupted communication.

For her daughters and other family members, the DNA samples represent an important step in the investigation—one that they hope will finally help determine the whereabouts of the woman who left for a journey to Nepal but never returned home.