‘The search was over’: A family’s 4-day quest for a son lost in Nepal’s floods

CHITWAN, Nepal — For four agonising days after floodwaters tore through Nepal’s Rasuwa district, Ayush Khadka’s family searched desperately for any sign that the 21-year-old civil servant was still alive.The Khadkas were among thousands of families clinging to hope amid the chaos wrought by a glacial collapse that sent an unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris crashing through valley towns and villages in Nepal and across the border in China.Ayush had spoken to relatives the night before the flood, and his social media account even appeared to show him as online the following morning, a small sign that gave the family hope he had survived.As reports of widespread destruction emerged on Aug 26, family members immediately began what would turn out to be a futile search.For two days his paternal uncle, Ganesh Khadka, waited near the Nepali Army’s Maithali Barrack in Nuwakot, one of the main coordination points for rescue and recovery efforts near the flood-ravaged region.Despite repeatedly sharing Ayush’s name, workplace and last known location in Timure with officials, the family received few answers, Ganesh said.