Camille Naredo

People stand near a collapsed bridge after flash floods at Devighat in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 28, 2026. Arun Sankar, AFP

People stand near a collapsed bridge after flash floods at Devighat in Nepals Nuwakot district on August 28, 2026. More than 1,400 people are missing and at least 552 have been killed after a devastating, tsunami-like wall of water gouged a path through the border region between Nepal and Tibet, sweeping away entire villages. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

Article (news)

NEPAL

<p>NUWAKOT, Nepal — The number of people missing in Nepal and China surpassed 2,400 Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster days after a tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept away villages and killed hundreds.</p><p>Rescuers were battling through mud even as the threat of new floods loomed, with emergency teams recovering 586 bodies so far -- and some of the dead swept downstream as far away as India.</p><p>The new figures came as Nepal&#x27;s disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing persons list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet&#x27;s sacred Mount Kailash.</p><p>Relatives have crowded hospitals in Nepal&#x27;s capital in a painful hunt for their loved ones, with posters on the walls bearing photos and names of the missing.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/8/28/tragedy-in-nepal-how-do-flash-floods-happen-0945">Tragedy in Nepal: How do flash floods happen?</a></div><p>&quot;Today is the third day and we don&#x27;t know anything. Hopefully he is in a safe place,&quot; Samjhana Thing, 27, told AFP referring to her brother. &quot;We lost everything. He is our everything.&quot;</p><p>The US Geological Survey said the disaster -- the deadliest for Nepal since a 2015 earthquake -- was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.</p><p>The deluge of ice and mud also caused huge lakes to form, and one of these formations has become a direct threat to emergency workers scouring the region for survivors.</p><p>Nepali police urged all rescuers to &quot;immediately move to a safe location&quot;, saying it had received information that &quot;<a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/8/28/nepal-says-dam-burst-in-tibet-warns-rescuers-to-head-to-safety-police-1506">a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan sid</a>e&quot;.</p><p>In Tibet, China was forced to suspend its rescue operation at the hardest-hit area of Gyirong over the risk of renewed flooding on Friday, before saying the threat had eased.</p><p>State broadcaster CCTV reported that a lake formed by immense piles of debris began overflowing toward where rescue teams were headed, but later said the water level of the pool had dropped.</p><p>Rescue operations were therefore &quot;proceeding in an orderly manner&quot;, it added.</p><p>Chinese President Xi Jinping, who chaired a meeting on rescue efforts, offered Beijing&#x27;s help to Nepal&#x27;s emergency operations.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;All swept away&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Emergency teams had been racing to retrieve survivors from affected zones, where the widespread devastation meant food and water supplies were running out.</p><p>The Nepali military located people trapped in the tunnel of Trishuli 3A hydropower project, where they were working to find a way in to extract the survivors.</p><p>&quot;Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,&quot; army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/27/marcos-jr-extends-sympathies-to-victims-of-nepal-tibet-floods-1826">READ: Marcos Jr. extends sympathies to victims of Nepal-Tibet floods</a></div><p>Some 350 workers and residents have been brought to safety from the site, he added, but efforts were ongoing to rescue more than 100 people trapped in the same area.</p><p>Workers rescued from other dam projects along the Trishuli valley described a disaster that unfolded with terrifying speed.</p><p>Buddha Tamang told AFP he survived only because he was inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked when the flood struck.</p><p>&quot;The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away,&quot; Tamang, who was airlifted on Thursday after being marooned for more than 24 hours, told AFP.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;I just want my son back&#x27; -</strong></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787961798141AFP__20260828__C6QL8UC__v1__MidRes__NepalDisasterFlood.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="People stand near a collapsed bridge after flash floods at Devighat in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 28, 2026. Arun Sankar, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">People stand near a collapsed bridge after flash floods at Devighat in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 28, 2026. <em>Arun Sankar, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>Survivors in a makeshift Nepali hospital endured an agonizing wait for news of their missing loved ones.</p><p>Kula Priya, whose eldest son is missing, said she had lost everything when the wave of mud and water swept in.</p><p>&quot;I don&#x27;t care for wealth. I just want my son back. If any of you could rescue my son, please do it for me,&quot; she told AFP.</p><p>Nepal reported a death toll of 579 people on Friday.</p><p>There are 1,924 people, including 517 foreigners, who are out of contact in Nepal, the disaster authority said. The previous missing figure was 977.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/8/28/family-seeks-help-in-search-for-filipino-doctor-missing-in-nepal-floods-1539">READ: Filipino doctor among missing in Nepal floods, family confirms</a></div><p>In India, authorities said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.</p><p>Across the border in Tibet, which is largely inaccessible to foreign journalists and where the only sources of information are Chinese authorities -- seven have died and 554 remain missing, the state Xinhua news agency reported early Saturday.</p><p>Authorities also said they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from Tibet.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Pilgrimage route -</strong></div><p>Scores of Hindu devotees from across the world are among those missing on the border, as many were on a pilgrimage to Tibet&#x27;s Mount Kailash.</p><p>Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling by bus with 56 others towards the Chinese border when they became stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam.</p><p>&quot;Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,&quot; Muthunathan, 46, told AFP on Friday, showing a phone video she recorded of a torrent surging towards her.</p><p>Around them, vehicles were swept away or buried under mud.</p><p>&quot;One by one, we also climbed out through the driver&#x27;s side,&quot; then scrambled up a hill, she said.</p>

<p>The number of people missing in Nepal and China surpassed 2,400 Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster days after a tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept away villages and killed hundreds.</p>

The number of people missing in Nepal and China surpassed 2,400 Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster days after a tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept away villages and killed hundreds.

Number of missing in deadly Nepal, China floods jumps past 2,400

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Number of missing in deadly Nepal, China floods jumps past 2,400

Arunabh Saikia with Paavan Mathema in Kathamandu,

Agence France-Presse

Published August 29, 2026 08:14 AM PHT

Read More:

Nuwakot

Nepal

China

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flash floods

glacier

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Mount Kailash

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