Local passengers expressed delight after Flydubai’s 166-seat Boeing 737 MAX began regular passenger flights between Pokhara and Dubai following a long wait.

The daily Dubai-Pokhara service opens a new international air link for the tourism hub, with passengers also able to connect to more than 250 cities through Dubai.

Customs collected Rs1.5 billion in 15 days after the August floods closed the Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani crossings, while transport costs to Kathmandu have risen 15-fold.

Relatives of people missing after the Bhotekoshi floods are turning to DNA testing to identify recovered bodies, but labs are overloaded and under-resourced.

The Kimrong Khola was temporarily blocked on Tuesday, prompting precautionary evacuations downstream, but the blockage began clearing overnight and the river has since returned to its normal flow.

Negative reports about the Bhotekoshi floods, road disruptions, and travel advisories have hit bookings in Pokhara, Chitwan and Lumbini just as the peak tourist season gets underway.

The Krishnabhir landslide has disrupted 150 tourist buses on the Pokhara-Kathmandu route, pushing daily air passenger numbers towards 3,500 and prompting tourism operators to explore an alternative route across the Trishuli.

Workers were digging a road at the under-construction project in Kaski when a landslide struck the site on Saturday.

DNA testing will determine the identity of a victim as relatives continue arriving in Pokhara to search for missing family members.

Relatives travel hundreds of kilometres across Nepal, moving between morgues, rescue camps and social media in search of any sign of those swept away or trapped by the Bhotekoshi flood.

More than 1,000 relatives of missing people arrived on Saturday as authorities display photographs of 102 bodies recovered far downstream, with some identified by school ties, tattoos and jewellery.

Families search overcrowded mortuaries for missing relatives as authorities struggle with decomposing remains, scarce forensic expertise and limited cold-storage capacity across central Nepal.

Hospitals in Chitwan and Pokhara are reaching capacity as bodies recovered far downstream from the Bhotekoshi flood arrive from several districts.

Veterans raised the recruitment freeze directly with Gen Dheeraj Seth in Pokhara, but the Agnipath scheme was left off the formal agenda of his meetings with Nepal’s top officials.

Floods, landslides and lightning have killed 85 people since April, while fresh rain is causing deaths, displacement and road closures across several districts.