10 September,2026 02:46 PM IST | Kathmandu | mid-day online correspondent
People look at photographs of missing persons outside a morgue in the aftermath of flash floods in Kathmandu on Wednesday. PIC/AFP
Two weeks after a glacial mountain collapse triggered deadly flooding on the China-Nepal border, more than 1,410 people have died and 5,651 remain missing, news agency AFP reported. Rescue teams in Nepal are still searching hydropower tunnels for possible survivors.
The August 26 tsunami-like surge of water, mud, and debris killed 1,367 people in Nepal, where another 5,132 remain missing, the country's disaster authority said on Wednesday. In China, 43 people have died, and 519 are missing, according to state media.
Hundreds of foreigners are among those missing, along with many hydropower workers who were inside or near the affected tunnels when the disaster struck.
"The rescue and search work in the tunnels at Trishuli 3A, 3B and Chilime hydropower projects is ongoing," Nepal Army Spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.
Three people have been rescued from deep inside the tunnels so far - two Nepalis on Friday and a Chinese man - on September 5.
However, there has been no official confirmation of any further survivors since then.
With the search for missing people continuing, authorities on Wednesday appealed to family members living overseas to submit DNA samples via email, preferably from parents or children of those missing.
A public notice outlined specific types of genetic tests family members should seek depending on their sex and relationship to the missing person.
The move comes as rescue teams continue efforts to identify those who remain unaccounted for following the devastating floods.
Thousands of people displaced by the disaster are living in relief camps, while charity organisation Save the Children said as many as 540 children had been separated from their parents.
Nepal's police said they were taking extra care to ensure the safety of children and women in the camps.
"We have become more vigilant in temporary holding centres in the affected areas where there are children, women or minority groups who could be victims of sexual abuse," said Nepal Police Spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle.
"We have also started providing psychosocial counselling in different camps," he told AFP.
As hopes of finding survivors fade, security personnel and community members are also searching for bodies feared buried beneath the debris, Kafle said.
"We have started a special search campaign for missing bodies all across the Bhotekoshi river corridor," he stated.
"We are also using drones to search for bodies."
The exact cause of the glacial collapse remains unclear. However, climate change is accelerating glacial melt worldwide and increasing the risk of such disasters.
Nepal, a largely rural nation of 30 million people that has contributed little to the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming, has said reconstruction could cost billions of dollars.
(With AFP inputs)
