Nepal floods death toll hits 903 as 4,247 remain missing

Kathmandu,UPDATED: Aug 31, 2026 19:48 IST

The death toll from the flash floods in Nepal rose to 903 on Monday as bodies continued to be recovered, while 4,247 people remained missing, authorities said. More than 10,000 people have been rescued so far, but intermittent rain, swollen rivers and damaged roads and bridges have made it difficult for rescuers to reach people still stranded.

The floods, believed to have been triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal on August 26. The Bhotekoshi River carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.

According to the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 272 bodies have been recovered in Chitwan district, 207 in Nawalparasi East, 151 in Nawalparasi West, 95 in Nuwakot, 62 in Gorkha, 55 in Dhading, 37 in Tanahu and 24 in Rasuwa. The disaster also killed 16 people on the Chinese side, while nearly 550 people remain missing in Tibet, according to Chinese media reports.

Of the 4,247 people still missing in Nepal, around 590 are foreigners from 39 countries, including India, Nepal foreign ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said on Monday. They also include 99 security personnel. Officials said 10,451 people had been rescued from flood-hit areas in Nepal till Monday evening, including locals and tourists from several countries such as India, the US, China, Russia, the UK, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Malta, Turkiye, Switzerland and Portugal. Roughly one-third of those rescued were evacuated by air, they added.

The floods also washed away the Bhotekoshi Corridor, Nepal's main land trade link with China, as well as the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between the two countries. On Monday, authorities said a landslide briefly blocked the Budhi Gandaki River in Gorkha district before water flow resumed. Injured people rescued from flood-hit Rasuwa continued to receive treatment in Kathmandu. In hospitals, where large numbers of people have been searching for missing relatives, the focus has increasingly shifted to identifying the dead. Photographs have been pasted outside hospital walls, where crowds could be seen carefully scanning them.

Nepal Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai said at a press briefing on Sunday that the mortal remains of victims who could not be identified, including those that were unrecognisable, amputated or decomposed due to prolonged exposure to water, had been buried following "standard and accepted protocols". He also said an 18-member team of forensic experts from India specialising in DNA analysis was assisting their Nepalese counterparts. Expert teams from India and China are also helping efforts to rescue workers and employees missing from hydropower sites in flood-affected areas, where many are believed to be trapped in tunnels. Overall, authorities said rescue, recovery and identification work was continuing across the flood-hit regions as the death toll rose and thousands remained unaccounted for.

With PTI Inputs

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