When Rabbi Chezky and Chani Lifshitz of Katmandu were informed that a busload of tourists had plunged 200 meters into a gorge in Chitwan National Park on Monday, they knew they needed to move fast.

“We have an arrangement with the police that whenever something like this happens, they alert us,” said Chani, who with her husband co-directs the Chabad House of Katmandu and the Chabad House of Pokhara in Nepal. “There are so many Israelis here that, to our sorrow, we often need to help identify the remains in such instances, and arrange for transport and burial.”

In addition, since Hindus routinely cremate their dead—forbidden by halachah, or Jewish law—they knew that if a body or bodies are found, they then face an uphill battle to wrest them from the hands of local officials before potential burning.

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The area has seen an unusual amount of rainfall of late due to Cyclone Phailin, which ripped through Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal and certain Indian states last week, making already precarious roads especially dangerous. The Lifshitzes soon discovered that a Jewish woman was aboard the bus: 32-year-old Marina Muchnik of Melbourne, Australia, who was on her way to Mount Everest.

The rabbi rented a helicopter and flew to the scene. Once there, he learned that 11 people remained missing; only two bodies had been recovered. One of them was Muchnik, a Ukrainian who moved to Australia at 13 and had attended the Beth Rivkah Ladies College in Melbourne.

“By the time my husband arrived, they were already taking the other body to be burnt. You need to understand that this is really the Third World,” explained Chani Lifshitz. “It is a miracle that he was able to convince them not to burn her as well.”

After hours of negotiations the body was released. Since it was too late at night to fly back to Kathmandu, the rabbi returned with the body by Jeep.

On the way back, he said he began to feel ill. Noticing strange writing on the sheet that was covering the body, he asked the Nepalese escort what was written there and was horrified to learn that it was a message to the Hindu deity who guards the dead. After exchanging that sheet for a plain white one, he said he felt better and the trip resumed.

Once in Katmandu, the Lifshitzes—who have lived in Nepal since 1999—faced the next hurdle: getting the body out of the country without subjecting it to an autopsy. Jewish law requires that unnecessary tampering with the dead by avoided out of respect for the departed. After much wrangling, the body was allowed out and is currently en route to Australia, where it should arrive early next week.

“We then realized that we did not have any of her personal effects,” said Chani Lifshitz, “and we knew how much it would mean to her family to have those items. We sent one of our workers to scour the hostels in the area, and sure enough, we were able to retrieve two suitcases containing her clothing—and even a camera with her latest pictures.”

With 30,000 Israeli tourists passing through the country annually to hike and wander about, Chani Lifshitz said they often deal with missing people. Earlier this summer, George Abboudi, a 22-year-old Jewish man from Leeds, England, went missing. The Lifshitzes led a massive search effort, only to discover that he had fallen into a river and died, and been cremated by local villagers.

His family donated a Torah scroll to Chabad in his memory.

“We are very sad,” said Chani, “but at least this time, we have small measure of comfort in knowing that we were able to bring Marina to a proper Jewish burial.”