The death toll from the devastating flash floods in central Nepal rose to 675 on Saturday as rescuers recovered more bodies, while over 2,000 people remained missing in the aftermath of the disaster.
A fresh flood threat has emerged in downstream areas of Nepal’s Bhote Koshi River in Rasuwa district after a new barrier lake formed near the river’s source, with Chinese authorities warning that the lake could breach.
Rescuers in Nepal and China were still battling Saturday to locate thousands of people missing days after a deadly, tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayan region, engulfing villages.
So far, 108 Indian nationals have been rescued, while 275 remain missing.
Cryosphere specialists at Nepal's ICIMOD, along with Chinese authorities, have warned of a secondary flash flood as a lake formed by Wednesday's mudslide faces a high risk of breaching, potentially sending floodwaters downstream.
Helpline numbers:
Indian Embassy in Kathmandu / MEA 24×7 control room: +977 985 131 6807, +977 970 910 7500, +977 981 032 6117
Nepal Police emergency: 100
Nepal Police toll-free: 16600141516
The number of missing soared past 2,400 on Friday as emergency teams said they had recovered 586 bodies -- with some of the dead swept downstream as far away as India.
Nepal has requested India and China to provide Bailey bridges to help restore connectivity after devastating floods damaged roads and bridges in the Himalayan region, the country’s foreign minister said.
There is still no information about the whereabouts of 77 pilgrims associated with the Isha Foundation who have been missing since a devastating flash flood hit areas near the China-Nepal border two days ago, according to the group’s coordinator.
The pilgrims, who were travelling under the banner of the Isha Foundation founded by spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru, lost contact after the disaster struck in Gyirong, Tibet, near the Nepal border.
Maa Gambhiri, a coordinator with the group, said rescue operations were underway but authorities had yet to provide any information about the missing pilgrims.
Continuing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts in Nepal: An Indian Air Force C-130 aircraft has departed, carrying 10 tonnes of essential relief supplies, including medicines and food items, to support those affected.
— ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2026
(Source: Indian Air Force) pic.twitter.com/3oYiYs5GEz
Scores of Hindu devotees from across the world are reportedly among those missing on the border, as many were on a pilgrimage to Tibet’s Mount Kailash.
#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: Chief Minister DK Shivakumar speaks to the people of Karnataka stranded in Nepal and assures them of safe transit back home.
— ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2026
The Chief Minister also instructed officials to arrange accommodation for all the people of Karnataka arriving in Delhi… pic.twitter.com/2phJQP2eo2
Rescue operations in the Trishuli region have been temporarily suspended after heavy rain caused river levels to rise, forcing authorities to halt helicopter operations. Residents living along the river have also been evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Nepal PM Balen Shah said 15,431 security personnel have been deployed for rescue operations, with 4,451 people rescued so far, including 191 hydropower workers trapped in tunnels and 517 people rescued by helicopters.
#WATCH | New York: On Nepal floods and preparedness in India, Former Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Safi Ahsan Rizvi says, "The recent tragedy in Nepal was basically something that has been happening in the Indian Himalayas for a long time. But in the… pic.twitter.com/Y5JOo4DcLJ
— ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2026
Devastating floods in the Nepal-Tibet border region have killed at least 616 people, Nepali police said Saturday, three days after the disaster.
Chinese state media had earlier confirmed seven dead, taking the total killed to at least 623 dead.
The death toll from flash floods in central Nepal rose to 626 on Saturday, and the number of missing soared close to 3,000 with more bodies being recovered.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said the bodies were recovered from eight districts of the Himalayan nation.
According to the NDRRMA, 233 bodies were recovered from Chitwan, 158 from Nawalparasi East, 51 from Nuwakot, 48 from Gorkha, 47 from Nawalparasi West, 45 from Dhading, 31 from Tanahu and 13 from Rasuwa.
The flash floods swept through Rasuwa and other parts of central Nepal on Wednesday, causing loss of life and widespread damage to settlements, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure, while leaving nearly 2,000 people missing.
Nearly 2,500 stranded people have been evacuated by rescue teams in Nepal as search and relief operations continued for a fourth day on Saturday.
On Friday, the NDRRMA said rising water levels at the flash flood site increased the risk of another flood in the area.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to intensify rescue and evacuation efforts for all Indians stranded in flood-hit Nepal and arrange for their safe return to India.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Kharge also urged him to ensure that adequate assistance is provided to the affected people of Nepal in coordination with the their government.
The disaster has left thousands of people in dire urgent need of food, medicines, shelter and other essential assistance, he noted.
"I request you to ensure that adequate humanitarian and relief assistance is provided to the affected people of Nepal in coordination with the Government of Nepal.
"I am also concerned about the Indian nationals and persons of Indian origin who are stranded in different parts of Nepal due to the floods. It is requested that requisite directions are issued to the concerned authorities to intensify rescue and evacuation efforts and make all necessary arrangements for their safe and early return to India," the Congress chief said.
Three bodies were recovered from the Gandak river in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district after apparently drifting into Indian territory from Nepal amid devastating floods in the neighbouring country, officials said on Saturday.
The bodies were spotted near barrage pier number 3 in the Madanpur-Sukrauli area of Khadda on Friday. Police and administrative officials reached the site and launched efforts to establish the identities of the deceased.
Around 100 pilgrims from Maharashtra, who were stranded in Kathmandu following flash floods in Nepal, were evacuated by the Bihar government and sent to their home state by train, an official statement said on Saturday.
The Bihar disaster management department said the evacuation was carried out on the request of the Maharashtra government.
"Acting on the direction of Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, the Sitamarhi district administration brought the pilgrims safely from the Nepal border to Sitamarhi on Friday," the statement said.
"The devastation is unbearable to watch", said actor Amitabh Bachchan as he expressed his concern over the Nepal floods.
A sudden, massive flood swept down the Bhote Koshi in Rasuwa district bordering Tibet on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and causing widespread damage to settlements, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure.
Bachchan shared a note on his blog on Saturday as he addressed the natural calamity.
"On a more serious note the devastation of the floods in Nepal are unbearable to watch," he wrote.
A mechanical engineer from Himachal Pradesh’s Una district, who was working at the Trishuli Hydro Project in Nepal, has gone missing following the devastating flash floods in Rasuwa and other districts. Sukhvinder’s family has been unable to contact him since the disaster and has sought help from the Centre and local authorities.
His elder brother has travelled from Dubai to Kathmandu to help search for him, while the Himachal government is coordinating with the MEA and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
Among 404 people from Maharashtra stranded in the Nepal-Tibet region following August 26 flash floods, authorities have established contact with 338 and confirmed their safety, and 37 of them are being transferred to India, a state government report said on Saturday.
It said 60 tourists, who had travelled to Nepal through Mumbai-based Richa Tours, are still untraceable.
The report further said the Ministry of External Affairs has provided a list of 149 Indians- all from different districts of Maharashtra and currently safe in the China/Tibet region to the state government.
The government has forwarded the list to all the district collectors for identification and further coordination, according to the report.
All deceased individuals are adults and are in an advanced stage of decomposition. Authorities are yet to identify the deceased or trace their families. However, an official confirmed that they are Nepalis.
More than Rs 2.295 billion has been donated to Nepal Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund since massive flash floods wreaked havoc in the Himalayan nation.
Following the flash floods, Nepal government declared the affected areas disaster zones, prompting various organisations and individuals to donate to the fund. It received Rs 1.91 billion within 36 hours from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday midnight, while assistance worth Rs 385.5 million was donated on Friday alone, according to sources at the Prime Minister's Office.
Four pilgrims from Vidarbha, including three women, finally returned safely to Nagpur on Saturday morning, bringing immense relief to their worried families.
The four, Indira Chaudhary (65), Sulochna Khapre of Wardha, and Deepak Pande and Varsha Upadhyay of Hinganghat, were among a group of pilgrims from the Vidarbha region in eastern Maharashtra who had travelled to Nepal for a pilgrimage to the Pashupatinath temple.
Nepali army rescue teams were using drilling equipment on Saturday seeking to rescue more than 100 people trapped inside a hydropower tunnel, three days after devastating floods struck the site.
"The government has been continuing efforts... to rescue people trapped inside the tunnel of the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project in Rasuwa," Nepal's prime minister's office said in a statement.
Nepal's reconstruction bill after devastating floods could run into "billions of dollars", Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said Saturday, as authorities grapple with the scale of the destruction.
"The reconstruction and rehabilitation would entail perhaps billions of dollars," he told reporters in Kathmandu.
"We will do loss and damage research and then we plan, but I am reaching out to our international community for support".
Three days after the disaster, Khanal said "the urgency is on rescue and saving lives as much as we can", but the scale of the disaster was already stretching the government's capacity.
Rescue teams have retrieved 626 bodies, and more than 2,426 people are still missing in Nepal.
Nepal's meteorology department on Saturday warned of fresh rainfall and thunderstorms in the country's flash flood-affected areas, threatening to disrupt ongoing rescue and relief operations amid the worsening crisis, according to a media report.
Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said in a press conference that the situation was being closely monitored and the country remained on “high alert”.
The group, led by Dr Chitley and his wife Janhavi, had departed Mumbai on August 23 for Kathmandu and was last heard from on the evening of August 25, hours before high-altitude torrents destroyed key immigration infrastructure on the morning of August 26.
Dr Chitley's brother-in-law Sandeep Padhye said, "We were in touch with my sister till August 25, but the messages sent on August 26 remain unread."
It is still unclear whether the group crossed into China before or during the floods, he said.
The UK has sent a Rapid Deployment Team to Nepal to support its 33 nationals affected by the devastating floods in the Himalayan nation even as appeals and prayers continue here by their family members, several of them British Indians.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the Rapid Deployment Team will be in action in Kathmandu from Saturday, providing additional support on the ground and coordinating assistance for British nationals arriving at and departing from the airport.
A total of 28 pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh who travelled to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra have safely returned after completing their pilgrimage, following a tense encounter with flash floods during their journey.
P Venkatramana, Managing Director of a Tirupati-based private travel agency, said that the group had travelled from India to Kathmandu and had to wait for around three days due to a delay in obtaining their Chinese visas.
Nepal on Saturday praised India's efforts towards helping it in times of crisis, and described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "exceptionally generous", in the wake of the devastating flood in the country that has killed more than 600.
Nepal Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle said that New delhi has indicated it would provide generous assistance for reconstruction.
A 34-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar district was swept away by a sudden surge in a river in Nepal and his body was recovered on Saturday, police said.
The deceased, Prabhat Soni, a resident of Itwa Nagar Panchayat, had gone to Nepal with family members on Friday.
They were sitting on rocks in a river in Butwal when the water level suddenly rose and the current intensified, sweeping Soni away before anyone could rescue him, police said.
Soni is survived by his wife and two daughters, aged four and one-and-a-half years.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday said that four Indians were rescued from the Rasuwa hydropower project. They are expected to reach Kathmandu shortly, the MEA said.
Meanwhile, as of 5 pm on Saturday, 287 Indian nationals remained missing, while 88 others had been rescued.
Update on Indian nationals and relief efforts in Nepal ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/9zNq2BXjIq
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) August 29, 2026
A 34-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district has gone missing in Nepal following devastating floods and landslides, with his family losing contact with him, family sources said on Saturday.
Karan Sharma, a resident of Malukahi village in the Kaptanganj tehsil area, was working as an electrician foreman at the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Nepal's Rasuwa district.
His name was later included in a list of employees reported missing after the disaster, the sources said.
According to his family, they last spoke to Sharma on the night of August 26, when they were unaware of any imminent danger.
They have since made repeated attempts to contact him but have been unable to establish communication.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal on Saturday expressed gratitude to the international community, including India, for the support and assistance provided following devastating flash floods that have killed more than 650 people.
Khanal also rejected reports circulating in national and foreign media that Nepal rejected international assistance and support.
"We are deeply grateful to our friends and partners for their solidarity, goodwill and generous efforts of support at this difficult time," Khanal said.
"From India we received more than 57 tonnes of relief materials. Essential items are also being received from China, Japan, Australia and other friendly nations on Saturday," he added.
An 11-member Indian team, comprising medical personnel and tunnel-rescue specialists, arrived in Nepal on Saturday to provide specialised technical assistance to ongoing effort to rescue workers trapped or unaccounted for inside hydropower project tunnels following devastating flash floods.
The team, sent at the request of the Nepal government, reached the Trishuli area after conducting an aerial reconnaissance of the Chilime and Langtang areas and began assessing the situation for rescue operations, according to Nepalese authorities.
Flood fears increased in Bihar on Saturday as persistent rains in Nepal and the state pushed water levels above danger marks in several rivers, already swollen by flash floods in the neighbouring Himalayan nation earlier this week.
According to the Water Resources Department, the Gandak river has breached the danger mark in Gopalganj, with a barrage on the river in Valmikinagar releasing around 99,800 cusecs of water at 8 pm on Saturday.
The Kosi and Burhi Gandak have touched the danger level in Khagaria, Katihar and Kursela, while the Ganga was flowing above the danger mark at Hathidah and Gandhighat in Patna and Kahlgaon in Bhagalpur, according to a bulletin from the Water Resources Department.
People residing in low-lying areas have been moved to safety, said a senior official, adding that all departments concerned have been put on alert.
Nepal may need between USD 4 billion and USD 5 billion to rebuild after the devastating floods that hit parts of the country this week, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle told Reuters on Saturday.
The minister stressed that the figure is only an initial estimate and that authorities are still assessing the full extent of the damage.
Seven people from Keralam, including four Australian citizens, remain unreachable following the flash floods in Nepal, while the safety of 45 others has been confirmed, NORKA Roots said on Saturday.
NORKA Roots is the Keralam government agency that coordinates overseas affairs and welfare services for non-resident Keralites
In a statement, NORKA Roots said that details of the seven people who remain uncontactable have been shared with the Ministry of External Affairs.
NORKA Roots said 16 people from the state who had contacted its help desks have returned home. A 14-member group from Kochi was also among those who returned.
The safety of 45 people who had contacted the NORKA help desks has been confirmed.
They are safe in Nepal or other parts of India and are taking steps to return home, the statement said.
The Shiv Sena has sent its leader Rahul Kanal to Kathmandu to help Indians, especially those from Maharashtra, return home in the aftermath of the devastating floods in Nepal.
Several stranded tourists from the state were brought from Kathmandu to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh by road and arrangements were being made for their further journey by air, an office-bearer of the Eknath Shinde-led party said.
A total of 37 tourists returned to Mumbai on Saturday evening.
Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Saturday said the government is with the flood-affected citizens of the country and its priority is to save the life of every citizen.
The government is very serious and sensitive towards the huge damage to life and property caused by the devastating floods in Rasuwa, Nuwakokt, Dhading and other downstream regions, the prime minister said in a social media post.
He further said that the government has intensified its efforts regarding search, rescue and relief operations.
China on Saturday offered emergency financial assistance and aid to Nepal, which has been devastated by flash floods.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday spoke to his Nepalese counterpart Shisir Khanal to convey Beijing’s decision to provide the assistance package to Nepal to deal with Wednesday’s flash floods at the Tibet-Nepal border.
Wang told Khanal that this was the most serious cross-border disaster in recent years and the complexity and difficulty of the relief work was unprecedented, according to Chinese official media.
Chinese relief supplies are expected to arrive in Kathmandu shortly, and two teams of China’s tunnel rescue experts are headed to the affected areas to help with the operations, he said.
China has shared important information, including imagery of the affected areas, satellite and hydrological data, with Nepal as well as early-warning information on an upstream barrier lake, Wang said.
The Odisha government on Saturday said that four persons from the state remain missing following the devastating floods in Nepal, while two others have safely reached India.
The missing persons have been identified as Sandeep Mohapatra and his wife Sidharthi Kumari Sahu of Khurda district, and Gunnam Sai Bindu Kumari and her daughter Gunnam Hareskha of Bargarh district.
Mohapatra and Sahu have been staying in Australia since 2018, officials said.
