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THE death toll from devastating floods and landslides in Nepal and China’s Tibet region has risen to 804, while nearly 3,300 people remain missing as search and rescue operations continue across the Himalayan border region.
Nepalese police said 788 bodies had been recovered from flood-hit areas, while 2,742 people remained missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals.
In Tibet, Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 people still missing.
Foreign news agencies reported on Monday that the latest figures underscore the scale of the disaster, which struck the China-Nepal border region last Wednesday after the sudden collapse of a glacier sent torrents of water and mud through Himalayan valleys.
The flooding destroyed villages, swept away infrastructure and left families scrambling for information about relatives who remain unaccounted for.
Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed in Nepal, rescuing 8,186 people so far. Helicopter operations have also evacuated 279 hydroelectric project workers and 227 foreign nationals to safety.
Search and rescue teams continue to face major challenges posed by mountainous terrain, steep slopes, narrow gorges and the distance over which floodwaters carried victims.
Nepalese authorities have sought specialist assistance in tunnel rescue operations, survivor detection technology and forensic and DNA analysis, as well as equipment to recover and preserve bodies.
Nepal’s Deputy Inspector General and police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said the distance bodies had been carried by floodwaters was making identification particularly difficult.
“Some bodies have been found in an incomplete state, including crushed or severed body parts, making physical identification extremely difficult,” he told the Kathmandu Post.
“Most of the bodies were buried under thick mud and water for two to three days,” he said.
The scale of the recovery effort has also placed pressure on local facilities, with hospital mortuaries reportedly reaching capacity and some recovered bodies beginning to decompose.
An 11-member tunnel rescue reconnaissance team from India has arrived in Nepal to assist the search operation, while specialist teams from India, China and South Korea are also contributing to rescue efforts.
Malaysia has deployed its Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) to support the operation and has contributed US$1 million (RM4.2 million) towards recovery efforts.
The United States on Saturday announced US$3.6 million (RM14.5 million) in humanitarian assistance to Nepal, including emergency food supplies for up to 10,000 affected families.
Relief operations have also been stepped up, with food and essential supplies being delivered to affected areas, medical teams deployed and government cash assistance distributed to survivors.
Authorities are meanwhile monitoring a newly formed lake in the Himalayas over fears it could trigger another flood.
Chinese officials said, however, that the lake’s water level had fallen significantly and was now nearly dry after the water drained naturally, reducing concerns about another major outflow in the immediate future.
The disaster has also disrupted education, with more than 200 students reported missing after floods struck three districts in Nepal, according to the country’s Ministry of Education and Sports.
At least 19 schools were affected, nine of which were destroyed and seven partially damaged.
Teachers and students at several schools were also reported missing.
Most of the badly damaged schools are in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, where several schools were either inundated or buried by flood debris.
The affected schools have about 2,425 students.
The ministry reported that about 20 students were swept away by floodwaters, while a bus carrying a student was also swept away by the raging current.
The locations of affected schools were identified through satellite imagery analysed by BBC South Asia’s visual journalism team.
With the number of missing people still running into the thousands, authorities and international rescue teams are racing against time to locate survivors, recover bodies and provide assistance to communities devastated by the disaster. - August 31, 2026
