KATHMANDU: Rocky and Jumbo have spent the past few days doing what human rescuers cannot always do, sniffing through the rubble in search of those who never made it out of the devastating floods that hit northern and central Nepal last month.
The Belgian Shepherd and German Shepherd were deployed with their handlers in Timure and Ghattikhola in Rasuwa on August 26, the day the flood struck.
Their trained noses have since helped rescuers locate two bodies and a body part, the Onlinekhabar news portal reported on Monday.
"The canines were fully equipped and deployed on the very day the flood came. They have proved to be very effective," Nepal Police spokesperson Abinarayan Kafle was quoted as saying by the news portal.
The Bhotekoshi floods of August 26 devastated parts of Rasuwa and surrounding areas, leaving large quantities of debris and raising fears that many missing people could remain buried.
The canines are trained to detect the scent of human remains and alert their handlers, who then direct the search.
Their ability to enter narrow openings and detect bodies buried beneath debris can be particularly useful in areas where floodwaters have left unstable rubble and inaccessible spaces.
Rocky and Jumbo, trained in search and rescue, were brought from the Nepal Police Canine Office in Kathmandu, Onlinekhabar reported.
Three days later, two Labradors, Leo and Kalu, were sent from Kathmandu with their handlers to search a wider stretch of the flood-hit areas, the report added.
The two Labradors searched locations including Bidur, Archale, Shantibazar, Mailung Hydropower, Dhunge, Devighat, Betrawati, Bhainse and Battar, it said.
According to police officials, they helped locate human remains at the employee quarters of Mailung Hydropower-3B and Battar Solar House.
Another team deployed Deepsi, a German Shepherd, from Chitwan.
The dog helped locate two bodies at Damouli Golaghat, police records showed.
Together, five Nepal Police dogs and 10 handlers have been deployed in the search and rescue operation.
The Armed Police Force (APF) has also deployed seven canines across the affected areas, including Timure, Devighat, Betrawati, Trishuli Bazaar, Dhading and Chitwan.
Fourteen handlers are working with the teams. According to APF spokesperson Netra Bahadur Karki, the force's canines have helped locate and recover 19 buried bodies.
Excavation teams subsequently recovered the bodies from locations indicated by the dogs, Onlinekhabar reported.
Together, the canine teams of Nepal Police and the APF have helped locate 26 bodies and body parts in the aftermath of the floods, the report said.
The dogs, however, cannot work indefinitely. After searching for a certain period, they need to rest before returning to the debris, with handlers closely monitoring their movements and responses.
Nepal has long relied on sniffer dogs in search-and-rescue operations, including after the devastating 2015 earthquake.
The Nepal Police began using canines in 1970 after bringing two trained dogs from Malaysia, while the APF established its canine unit in 2006.
The Nepal Army has also maintained a dedicated canine establishment since 1999, but its dogs have not been deployed in the current flood rescue operation and remain on standby, Army spokesperson Rajaram Basnet was quoted as saying by Onlinekhabar.
A South Korean rescue team has also arrived in Nepal with five canines to assist in the search, the report said.
For the rescue teams, the search continues. And in the rubble, the dogs keep moving -- stopping, sniffing and signalling their handlers when they detect something beneath the debris.
