“I Pray to God That My Sindoor Is Never Wiped Away”: Pregnant Wife Waits for Husband Missing in Rasuwa Flood

JALESHWAR, MAHOTTARI, SEPTEMBER 7, 2026

A Husband Went To Work And Never Came Home

Six months pregnant and holding on to hope for the father of her children, Indira Yadav of Pipra Rural Municipality-3 in Mahottari is waiting for news of her husband, Bikas Kumar Yadav, a civil engineer working at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project, who went missing after the devastating Bhote Koshi flood struck the Rasuwa-Trishuli region on August 26. Bikas had left their quarters for duty early that morning, but after the flood tore through the area and devastated hydropower infrastructure, Indira could no longer reach him. Days later, his whereabouts remain unknown, leaving a pregnant wife, their two-year-old daughter and his parents waiting for an answer.

The Last Morning They Saw Each Other

Indira and their two-year-old daughter, Vibhansi, were staying with Bikas near his workplace when disaster struck. Bikas left their room at around 6:30 AM for duty, waking his wife before leaving and asking her to lock the door and go back to sleep.

It was an ordinary goodbye, the kind a family would never imagine could become the last moment they clearly remember together.

At around 9 AM, a guard outside the quarters reportedly warned Indira that a huge flood was coming from upstream and told her to move toward higher ground. Despite being six months pregnant, she grabbed her young daughter and rushed uphill to safety.

One Phone Call That Never Connected

Once she reached safer ground, Indira tried to contact her husband.

She said Bikas had appeared online until around 9:20 AM. Just a few minutes later, when she tried calling him, she could no longer reach him.

Because she knew the underground area where he worked and understood that the facility had multiple levels, she initially held on to the belief that he might have found shelter inside. She waited through the day for him to return.

He did not.

Indira and her daughter were later rescued by the Nepal Army and brought to Kathmandu before eventually returning to Mahottari.

A Tunnel That Became The Center Of Hope

Bikas worked as a civil engineer at Trishuli 3A, one of the hydropower facilities badly affected by the disaster.

Search teams faced extremely difficult conditions inside the project. Mud, water, rocks and debris blocked access toward the underground powerhouse, forcing rescuers to drill, excavate and pump water while trying to reach areas where workers could have survived.

Then came a development that gave waiting families new hope.

Ten days after the disaster, two workers were reportedly rescued alive from the Trishuli 3A tunnel. Their survival after so many days strengthened hopes that others might also be found.

But later searches of areas reached by rescue teams did not immediately locate the other workers believed to have been inside, leaving families such as Bikas’s still without the answer they desperately need.

Two Children Waiting For Their Father

For Indira, every passing day carries another painful question.

Her two-year-old daughter is still too young to fully understand why her father has not returned. Meanwhile, another child is growing inside her.

Indira has spoken about the fear that the baby she is carrying may enter the world without ever seeing their father.

Her prayer is painfully simple: she wants her husband back.

She continues to pray that the sindoor symbolizing her marriage is never wiped away.

Behind those words is the reality of a mother trying to protect one child beside her while carrying another, without knowing whether the man they are both waiting for is coming home.

His Parents Are Waiting Too

The uncertainty has spread through the entire Yadav family.

Bikas’s father, Shambhunath Yadav, is a retired teacher. Remembering his son, he described Bikas as an outstanding student who consistently stood first in his studies.

For the family, Bikas had grown into far more than a successful son. He had become one of the main pillars of their home.

His mother, Binadevi, had undergone surgery only around a month before the disaster. Now, according to the family, she repeatedly asks visitors to bring her son back.

Even the arrival of someone at their home carries a small possibility in the family's mind: perhaps this person has finally brought news of Bikas.

A Father Gives His DNA

As the search continues, the family has also entered another painful stage of the disaster response.

Shambhunath has provided a DNA sample to authorities. For families of people still missing after a mass-casualty disaster, DNA comparison can help authorities identify recovered remains when visual identification is no longer possible.

Giving that sample does not mean the family has stopped hoping.

It means they are living between two possibilities no parent, wife or child wants to face: waiting for a rescue while also preparing for identification.

Questions Over The Rescue Response

Indira has also questioned whether authorities moved quickly enough to bring in the expertise and technology required for the difficult underground rescue.

The operation was technically challenging. Reports from the site described access tunnels filled with mud and water, heavy debris blocking routes and teams having to use drilling machines, excavators, hydraulic equipment and pumps to move deeper toward the powerhouse.

For Indira, however, those operational details are inseparable from one personal question: could faster action have brought her husband home sooner?

One Family Among Many Still Waiting

The Yadav family's story is deeply personal, but their wait is shared by families across Nepal.

Many people remain unaccounted for following the devastating flood, while the number of those missing has continued to change as some families re-establish contact with loved ones and authorities receive new reports.

Behind every changing number is a household waiting for a phone call, a confirmed name or footsteps at the door.

For Indira, there is only one name that matters.

Bikas.

Until there is a confirmed answer about what happened to him, she remains a wife waiting for her husband, a mother caring for their little daughter and a woman carrying another child who may soon enter the world.

And through all that uncertainty, one prayer remains:

“I pray to God that my sindoor is never wiped away.”