Nepal’s flood death toll reaches 1,259 as more than 5,000 remain missing

Nepal’s flood disaster has left more than 5,000 people missing, with authorities raising the toll as rescue teams reach villages that remained cut off for days.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 5,083 missing people and 1,259 deaths in an update issued at 7 p.m. on September 3. The figures included 867 additional missing people and seven more deaths recorded during the previous seven hours.

Authorities attributed the increase to information gathered in villages in Rasuwa district, the area hit hardest near Nepal’s border with China. Emergency teams have rescued 12,038 people, and more than 90% of telecommunications services have been restored. The government has described the emergency as a “Himalayan tsunami.”

The missing include 583 foreign nationals, among them two Spaniards. Identifying the dead has also become a major challenge. Of more than 1,200 bodies recovered, only 95 had reached their families. Nepal’s police asked thousands of relatives still searching for loved ones to provide blood samples and DNA profiles.

The floods struck on August 26 and caused one of Nepal’s largest disasters in recent years. Water destroyed homes, roads and bridges across several districts, while heavily damaging hydropower plants and other infrastructure. The emergency also reached Tibet in China, where authorities reported 21 deaths and 541 people still unaccounted for.

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Himalayan tsunami