Thirty Years Later, Nepal Sees Another 'Devil's Smile'... Two Men Caught Removing Gold Earrings from a Corpse

[Financial News] During the 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse, a woman was seen smiling while carrying out items from the store as many people were trapped under the rubble. The image became known as the "devil's smile" and sparked nationwide outrage.
More than 30 years later, something even worse happened at the scene of Nepal's massive floods. Two men were caught by police after pulling a victim's body, swept downstream by the flood, out of the water and removing the gold earrings from her ears.
According to local media outlet Khabarhub and India's NDTV on the 28th local time, police in Chitwan arrested Madan Gurung, 25, and Umesh Chaudhari, 38, on suspicion of stealing earrings from the body of a flood victim.

The case came to light through a 41-second video filmed at the scene.
In the video, the two men are seen pulling the body of a woman swept into the Narayani River out of the water and removing earrings from both ears. Family members of missing people and local residents had gathered near the river at the time, and their actions were fully recorded on a mobile phone camera.
As the video spread through social networking service platforms, criticism poured in. Police also analyzed the footage, identified the two men, and arrested them near the Bharatpur Pokhara Bus Park. Investigators are now looking into whether they committed additional crimes.
Chitwan police stated, "We will not tolerate looting or inhumane acts targeting victims and the dead in disaster situations." They also urged citizens to immediately report any information or evidence related to theft or looting during disasters.


This is not the first time that people have sparked outrage by taking valuables amid the chaos of a major disaster.
A representative example is the Sampoong Department Store collapse on June 29, 1995. In the midst of the massive disaster, which left 502 people dead and 937 injured, some people were seen taking goods left inside the department store even as rescue work was underway.
In particular, a woman was caught on camera smiling while holding items she had taken from the rubble at the disaster site. Her image later became known as the "devil's smile at Sampoong Department Store." Her identity and whether she was ever criminally punished have not been confirmed.
Just a month ago, a similar controversy erupted in Japan. Shortly after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in July, a social media user posted photos of the inside of a damaged shopping mall and wrote a message suggesting it was an opportunity to steal items freely.
It has not been confirmed whether the person who posted the message actually stole anything, but in Japan the post drew heavy criticism for portraying a disaster as an opportunity for crime while victims were fighting for their lives.
Looting also emerged as a problem during the massive earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria in February 2023.
At the time, foreign media reported that looting was seen in Antakya, Türkiye, where people broke windows and fences at shops and cars to take items. Some international rescue groups even suspended their operations temporarily, citing worsening security and fears of clashes.

Meanwhile, the latest floods in Nepal are believed to have been triggered on the 26th, when a massive glacier and rock collapse occurred in the Himalayan highlands near the Nepal-China border. The collapsed ice and rocks are thought to have blocked a river and formed a natural dam, which then burst and sent huge amounts of water and sediment downstream. Local authorities have also warned of the possibility of another natural dam collapse.
Nine South Koreans have also been out of contact since the accident. The government joint rapid response team plans to expand the search area and carry out additional rescue and search operations on the 30th.
Roads and bridges leading to the disaster site have been washed away, making helicopter access the only practical option. The risk of further flooding and weather conditions are also being cited as major variables.
The government has increased its local response force to 20 by sending nine additional personnel, including one from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eight from the National Fire Agency, on top of the existing 11-member response team. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a Special Travel Alert for four provinces in Nepal — Bagmati Province, Gandaki Province, Koshi Province, and Lumbini — and urged travelers planning to visit to cancel or postpone their trips.
[email protected] Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter