Surkhet, Aug. 17 -- Every monsoon, hundreds of people from Karnali, Nepal's largest and remotest province, risk their lives in India's flood- and landslide-prone areas for seasonal work. Many never return.

On August 5, a cloudburst in Dharali, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, triggered flash floods in the Khirganga river, sweeping away at least 21 Nepalis, according to the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi. Thirteen of them are believed to be from Kushe Rural Municipality in Jajarkot, a hill district in Karnali. Their families, who rushed to the disaster site, have started returning home in despair as search efforts yielded no results.

"We suspect they were buried in the landslide," said Bhadra Bahadur Singh of Talegaon. His relatives Karn...