Nepal holds day of mourning for more than 1,300 killed in floods

Nepal is observing a national day of mourning for more than 1,300 people killed in catastrophic floods, while search teams continue looking for survivors and the missing.

Government offices in Nepal and diplomatic missions abroad are flying the national flag at half-mast. The observance falls on the 13th day since a glacier-triggered wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river along the Himalayan border with China’s Tibet region on August 26.

“

There are no government programmes organised as the rescue and search operation is still going on in the flood-hit areas

The disaster killed at least 1,380 people and left more than 5,500 missing. The government has organised no wider public events because rescue and search operations are still under way and resources remain limited. In Hindu tradition, the final day of mourning includes prayers for those who died and visits by relatives to pay their respects.

“

We are here because we have not heard of any rescue attempt on this project, but it has been 13 days already

Search teams have rescued four people in recent days. A Chinese national was pulled from a tunnel at a hydropower site on Saturday, while two hydropower workers were rescued from another tunnel on Friday. A Nepali woman was also pulled from her buried home.

In Kathmandu, relatives gathered near government offices to demand faster searches for workers swept away by the Bhotekoshi River or buried under debris. Sumana Shrestha held a poster of her husband, a consulting geologist who disappeared after leaving work at the Trishuli hydropower plant. "We are here because we have not heard of any rescue attempt on this project, but it has been 13 days already," she said. President Ram Chandra Paudel was touring affected areas to assess the damage.

“

The only thing we have been able to do is pray to God and hope for a miracle