Wednesday marked one month of the worst domestic air disaster in Nepal where 72 people presumably lost their lives after an Yeti Airlines ATR-72 aircraft crashed in Pokhara on January 15.

Although the security agencies identified 70 bodies and handed them over to their relatives, the recovered remains did not match the DNA samples of two passengers—Yuvraj Sharma and his son Babin, according to forensic experts involved in investigations.

“From the DNA tests of the remains recovered from the crash site, it seems two bodies have yet to be found,” said Senior Superintendent Rakesh K Singh , chief of the Samakhusi-based Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory, where six bodies were sent to match the DNA by the Nepal Police last month. Police said along with the six bodies, two sacks of scattered body parts were also sent to the laboratory.

Tek Bahadur KC, the chief district officer (CDO) of Kaski, said that his office has again deployed Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel to search for the missing.

On January 23, nine days after the crash, Sharma’s family had performed the funeral rites of Yuvraj and his son. The family, as per the custom, had represented the two in Kusha grass effigies and cremated them alongside the bodies of Yuvraj’s mother Jamuna and daughter Aayurdi at Pashupati Aryaghat.

“Yuvraj uncle’s family has already performed the funeral rites because there was no certainty of finding the bodies,” said Roshan Tiwari, 28, a nephew of Yuvraj’s.

Earlier the bodies of 60 of the 72 victims were handed to the family members. Twenty-two bodies were handed over in Pokhara and the remaining 48 were flown to Kathmandu on January 18 by two Nepal army helicopters for postmortem examinations.

“All the 48 bodies brought to Kathmandu have been handed over to the victims’ families, but our DNA tests show two bodies are still missing,” said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Poshraj Pokharel, the central spokesperson of the Nepal Police.

Talking to the Post on the phone from Pokhara, Kaski CDO KC said he has asked the communities living along the Seti River up to downstream areas in Tanahun to help find the bodies.

“Earlier we used both man and machine including drones, and even diverted the river in certain places to search for the bodies,” said KC.

He said they will continue the search until the whereabouts of the two missing is ascertained.