By Netra Shahi, Jumla, Sept. 29: Four children have arrived in Jumla district all the way from Punjab of India in search of their father who eloped with his second wife and then remained missing some three years ago.

Permanent address of the children has not been established yet although they say their father was from Kailali district.

According to the police, Madhu BK aged 17, Gita BK aged 16, Navin BK aged 9 and Ashish BK aged 3 landed in Khalanga, district headquarters of Jumla some days ago.

The children say they were all born in Punjab and that their father was working there before he went missing.   

With the help of the local, local administration and the police have at present kept the children at the service center for temporary stay in Jumla, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Madhab Prasad Kafle.

The children were rescued from Jumla Buspark as they were left stranded there after their arrival.

DSP Kafle said that the police was working to find out the address of the children and had communicated with other districts about the children and appealed to all to come to contact if their children had gone missing.

"We heard that our home lies in Kailali of Nepal. We do not know the exact location," Bhagawati Shrestha, chairperson of the Service Center for temporary stay, quoted the children as saying to her.

"Our mother died while under treatment at a hospital. Then our youngest brother was just a month old. Sometime after death of our mother, our father married with other mother and then absconded," said Madhu BK, the eldest of the four children.

Madhu said that as they could not find any wage-earning jobs after COVID-19 spread in India and they came to Nepal because all the Nepalis were returning home.

He said first they came to Nepalgunj and then Surkhet and finally at Jumla.

It has been 12 days since they arrived in Jumla in search of their father.

Bhupendra Thapa, Chief District Officer of Jumla, said efforts were made to resettle them.

The children were kept in a safe house now and that discussion was being held as to how to move forward with regard to finding permanent address of the children and helping them to settle, according to CDO Thapa.