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| Picture of a Nepal family residence with a great emphasis on the absence of the Hayu family members and how devastating it is. |
I(caps)n eastern Nepal authorities launched an urgent search after 16 members of one extended family disappeared without a trace in late July 2025. Police reports identify the group as belonging to the Hayu community, a very small, endangered Kiranti people who live in remote Golanjor hill villages. According to officials, the family collected a three-month government welfare allowance (about Rs.4,000 per person) on the afternoon of July 26 and was last seen together that day. By the next morning, July 27, locals found their compound completely deserted: household items were in place, but the family’s chickens, goats and buffaloes were wandering free. (No one answered the phone or appeared at the home.) The missing include elders, parents and children across three generations. Neighbors say it is “deeply concerning” and highly unusual that all 16 vanished so suddenly. Local officials emphasize that the family’s own language (Hayu or Wayu) and animist traditions set them apart, underscoring how the disappearance has shaken this tight-knit indigenous community.
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Key details of the case include:
- Group: There are a group of 16 people, all in a single family unit (the family of Urmila Hayu) and they consist of adults, the elderly and children who went Missing.
- Community: The Hayu are a small tribal community (population of around 3.3k countrywide) under the official classification of being an endangered group. They use a Kiranti language and are animists.
- Last seen: The 16 were last seen July 26, 2025 when they received a social welfare allowance (approx. Rs.4,000 each or three months) under a government program of vulnerable communities.
- Discovery: On July 27 the home was discovered empty by local officials. The family property was undisturbed except some small evidence of disturbance, and domestic animals left behind. Nobody had put any message or warning.
- Search: A joint search was started at once. Army, Armed Police and Nepal Police squads have been searching local forests, tracks and riverbanks with the assistance of local volunteers. Rough terrain and waterways have also been covered by the use of drones, sonar equipment and divers. In one recent case, even armed policemen of Nepal were searching a flooded river with floating water drone and sonar in search of missing buses.
- Status: Up to date there are no leads of sightings. With a shooting incident, the authorities are saying that they are looking at all possibilities either it is an accidental misadventure or a voluntary flight or foul play. The search is to have them returned in one piece. The police superintendent Arun Thapa requested citizens to give any information as soon as possible.
Search and Response
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| Survival teams are about to search people in a raft on a flooded river to locate lost people enclosures with green trees and banks. |
Dozens of rescue teams and local villagers are turning over the surrounding rugged land where the Hayu family lived. The military and the police of Nepal have deployed personnel the help of which was supported by local volunteers. With the steep terrain of the region and loads of forest, the officials have taken the help of fast boats and aerial drone in order to reach further. As an example, in July 2024 the Nepali Armed Police Force (APF) notoriously used a water drone and sonar-equipped divers in the fast flowing Trishuli River to search for two overturned buses (dozens of missing passengers) that had disappeared in a landslide. This is a representation of the utilizing of technology by agencies. In the continuing search, APF and army divers have been sent to search riverbanks, whereas, police teams are investigating mountain paths systematically. One official said, "We are giving this disappearance top priority". We are following every lead, which it whether it points to an accident, planned migration or otherwise”.
Community Context
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| People are stand by a fire placed at a distance outside the house of the Hayu family and utensils used to cook food are placed before the people. |
The disappearance has caused shockers in the community and everywhere. Hayu is one of the smallest ethnical groups in Nepal and a great number of Hayu people exist under the poverty line in remote villages. Special government assistance is provided to them in fact the Social security system of Nepal refers to the endangered indigenous group expressly as a group to whom social allowances are due. The lost family had just received a regular payout of such a program. The amount of their social protection has significantly increased (Nepal): the expenditure on social security increased by a large amount: over 7.3 percent of public expenditure (2016 / 17) to almost 19.7 percent (2023/24). The instant deprivation of 16 individuals of one family shows the lack in the integrity of the community and the worth of such payments. Local activists observe that the Hayu had already been demographically declining and suffering, thus the disappearances of the missing would be filled with much speculation and fear as to their demise and purpose.
Missing Persons in Nepal
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| A group of individuals sit before a rustic house of the Hayu community on a hill with lots of greenery and lots of trees and you can see the mountains behind them in the background. |
This case is accompanied by a general increase in the cases of people going missing in Nepal. Based on the statistics provided by Nepal Police, about 15,000 disappear annually in the country. Indeed, approximately 46,000 Nepalease went missing in a period of four years (2021-2024), and the percentage of women and girls is visible throughout the category of victims. Less than half of the missing people are ever found. During one three-year period following a case ~25, 500 of 45, 000 had been resolved. Most of the causes are typical family conflicts, psychiatric or economic emigration, but the trafficking or kidnapping issue still exists in some situations.
- National figures: Nearly 46,000 Nepalease were reported missing of chiefly 2021-2024 (around 15) thousand for the year, but less them than half has hold.
The law enforcers emphasize that each missing-person case is important. In this case of family disappearance in Hayu family, any little bit of information might prove to be a major event. The police request the community that regardless of little knowledge, sighting, telephone, or rumors, to report straight foward to the local police office. The authorities within the district have assured that they will continue investigating every lead and will not give up the search.
Sources: Field reports by Nepali police and media on Sindhuli/Ramechhap case; government social security records; and formal statistics on missing persons.
