KATHMANDU: As many as 14 bodies, including those of three women who were killed in the April 25 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, have not been identified yet, a Nepal Police said today.

The death toll from the tremors have reached 8,716. Similarly, at least 22,493 were injured whereas 189 Nepalis and 80 foreign citizens still remain missing. As many as 4,405 injured have been undergoing treatment at various hospitals.

According to the NP report, the bodies of 8,681 have already been handed over to their kin after fulfilling legal procedures.

The officials are all set to hand over 21 bodies, whereas 14 bodies still remain unidentified. The unidentified bodies belong to 11 males and three females, including a foreigner.

A police official said 11 of the unidentified bodies were recovered from the debris of collapsed structures in Kathmandu, two in Langtang of Rasuwa and one in Bhaktapur.

“The unidentified bodies have been kept in a mortuary of TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj after taking photographs, fingerprints and DNA sample of each of them,” said the official.

Nepal Police has urged all to contact the Dead Body Management Desk established at the premises of the mortuary for identification of the bodies. Officials have also made public the physical description of the bodies, along with  clothes, belts and the wrist watches the persons were wearing as preliminary leads about the deceased.

“We have been adopting all possible ways to identify the bodies and hand them over to the respective kin at the earliest.

All police units across the country have been told to reach the kin of the deceased, who are yet to be identified,” he said.

The unidentified and unclaimed bodies may be disposed by the District Natural Disaster Relief Committee as per Post-Disaster Dead Body Management Guideline, 2012. However, its time-frame has not been specified in the law.

“Final rites of such deceased should be performed as per their religion and tradition as far as possible,” states the law.