3 Bihar teens presumed dead in Dharali floods return just as their funeral pyres were lit

The funeral pyres were ready. Three effigies, crafted in the names of Rahul Mukhiya, Munna Mukhiya and Ravi Kumar, all 19-year-old labourers from Bihar’s Magalhiya village, had been arranged for the ritual flames. Their families, convinced they had perished in the catastrophic Uttarakhand floods of August 5, had steeled themselves for the last rites. Then, impossibly, the boys walked home.

As reported by TOI, the trio’s sudden reappearance sparked disbelief and euphoria in their West Champaran village, where days of silence had been mistaken for proof of their deaths. The youths had been working in flash flood-ravaged Dharali, Uttarakhand, before the disaster struck. But contrary to assumptions, they weren’t there when the deluge hit.

Three days before the floods, the group had travelled to Gangotri for a construction job, about 6 km from the epicentre of the disaster. Cut off by collapsed roads and snapped communication lines, they were unaware of the devastation or that their families had declared them dead.

“There was no mobile signal in Gangotri. We didn’t know anyone was looking for us. We didn’t even know about the flood,” Rahul was quoted by TOI as saying.

Rescued by the Army during evacuation operations, they were airlifted to Dehradun and then driven through Haridwar before finally returning to Bihar. The journey took days, long enough for grief to cement into certainty back home.

In Magalhiya, where official missing-persons lists rarely arrive, absence had been evidence enough. With over 40 people still unaccounted for in the region, the village had already held symbolic cremations for two others from the same community - Rakesh Thakur and Guddu Das, whose bodies were never found.

Rakesh’s brother, Mahesh Thakur, recounted searching Uttarkashi after survivors claimed Rakesh had been buried under debris. “I searched, but found nothing. So we performed a symbolic cremation. That’s all we could do,” he said, as per TOI report.

Munna’s father, Ramji Mukhiya, described the grim wait for news. “Survivors told us the flood was so fierce, no one could have lived through it,” he said. After watching two other funerals, he too lit a pyre for his son. “And then he came back. Just before it was over.”

For 10 days, the families had endured the unbearable rhythm of loss - drawing water, cooking meals, accepting murmured condolences. Then, as TOI reported, the teenagers appeared at their doors: exhausted, speechless and unmistakably alive. “The Army gave us food, looked after us the whole way,” Munna said, as per TOI. “But we didn’t know what we were going back to.”