Nepal Marks 13-Day Mourning Period as Over 5,000 People Remain Missing After Flash Flood
- Nepal observed a national day of mourning on Monday, with flags flown at half mast across the country and its missions abroad
- At least 1,287 people have been confirmed dead after a glacial collapse triggered a flash flood through villages along the Nepal-Tibet border
- Rescue teams are still searching tunnels near hydropower stations where hundreds of workers are among the more than 5,000 people unaccounted for
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Nepal marked the final day of a 13-day Hindu mourning period on Monday, with candlelight vigils held across the country for victims of a deadly flash flood that killed at least 1,287 people and left more than 5,000 others unaccounted for.
The flood, believed to have been set off by a glacial collapse, tore through villages in a Himalayan valley along the Nepal-Tibet border roughly two weeks ago, burying homes and sweeping away communities in its path.
Source: Getty Images
Search efforts continue at full pace
According to BBC, Phanindra Paudel of the National Emergency Operation Centre said there would be no formal government commemoration programmes, as rescue and search operations were still actively under way in the affected areas. Nepal's president, Ram Chandra Paudel, visited devastated communities on Monday, according to an aide.
Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told Agence France-Presse that teams were working "with the same tempo we had on day one," covering ground operations, aerial searches, and work inside tunnels. "We are making sure that no one is still stranded," he said.
Rescuers remain focused on tunnels linked to hydropower stations in the region, where hundreds of workers are among the missing. Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix, who is advising Nepali teams, described the operation on X as involving "multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties and lives that may still be saved."
Four people have been pulled to safety in recent days, three of them at hydropower stations or tunnel sites.
Survivors pulled from rubble
One of the most remarkable rescues came on Saturday, when a 64-year-old Nepali woman was found alive on the fourth floor of her partially buried home in Nuwakot district, more than ten days after the flood. Nepal's Armed Police Force located her beneath the debris and airlifted her to a hospital in Kathmandu.
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On Sunday, recovery teams in China found twelve bodies on the Tibetan side of the border, using excavators, shovels, and ground-penetrating radar at the site. Chinese media had reported a death toll of 31 on the Tibetan side as of Friday, with 531 people still unaccounted for there.
In Nepal alone, at least 5,083 people remain missing. The home ministry confirmed that government offices and embassies abroad flew the national flag at half mast to mark the close of the mourning period, even as formal commemorations were scaled back out of respect for ongoing rescue work.
Nepal flood: 100 dead, hundreds missing
Legit.ng earlier reported that a catastrophic flash flood and mudslide along the Nepal-Tibet border has killed more than 100 people and left hundreds of tourists unaccounted for, with rescue teams racing to locate survivors across multiple districts.
Nepal police confirmed a death toll of 100 as of 20:30 local time on August 26, 2026, with the highest concentration of deaths recorded in Chitwan district, where 33 bodies were recovered.
Source: Legit.ng
