KATHMANDU: Altogether 44 children — mostly domestic helps —went missing within the last week of October from the Kathmandu Valley.

According to a data compiled by National Centre for Children at Risk (NCCR) under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare between October 24 and 30, a total of 32 children were found while whereabouts of other is yet to be known.

The NCCR officials say that the trend has gone by various folds in the recent days. Ramesh Thapa, sub-inspector, NCCR, said that missing children were mostly domestic workers who run away from the house of their master after failing to bear torture meted out to them.

“Among those missing are not the children from the Valley. Most of them are from outside,” he said, adding that they were coordinating with various authorities concerned to track down the missing kids.

Most of the missing children are aged between 10 and

15 years and hail from Kavre, Dhading and Nuwakot districts.

Dadhi Ram Neupane, police inspector, Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu, said that they had established search centres nationwide. He also claimed to have been successful in rescuing the missing kids as they have been tracing the children of over 90 per cent of the reported cases.

“We’re searching the children coordinating with various such centres across the country,” he said.