Autistic boy who went missing before Nepal quake and was declared dead returns home

The series of deadly earthquakes that jolted Nepal in 2015 left hundreds dead and many others missing. Just days ahead of the quakes, Bhupal Adhikari, a 17-year-old suffering from autism, went missing from his native village in Nepal.

But in a shocking twist of events, the boy, who was supposed to have died, has reappeared at his home, leaving his family in shock and disbelief. The boy was then attending a class for children with special needs and had made good progress, The Wall Street Journal reported citing his teacher Narbada Devi Dahal. "He had learned to button his shirt and write a few letters and numerals," Dahal reportedly told the paper.

Adhikari's family said he was in the habit of leaving home and wandering around but would usually return within a week or so, except the last time. He disappeared one afternoon in April 2015, just days before the 2015 Nepal earthquake wreaked havoc in the country, and was missing since then.

Almost a month after his disappearance, a villager spotted a decomposing human body in a forest close to the village. Police said the dead body was covered in a yellow vest and pants, which was identified by one of Adhikari's relatives. The family then claimed the remains and buried them.

The teenager lived in a village in Nepal with his 14-year-old brother Anup and father, while his mother worked as a maid in Saudi Arabia to earn money to run the family.

On enquiring where he was for the past months, he told the paper that he had gone to India's financial capital Mumbai. However, in another interview to the paper he said he went to Delhi, the capital of India. "I went to earn some money," he was quoted as saying in a phone interview. "But I didn't make any money. I was hungry," he added.