Nepal floods death toll reaches 1,344 as rescue operations continue

Nepal’s flash flood death toll rose to 1,344 on Saturday, with around 5,000 people still missing. More than 13,000 have been rescued, while authorities continue operations across eight affected districts and struggle to identify bodies recovered from debris and waterways

Kathmandu: The death toll from the devastating flash floods in Nepal surged to 1,344 on Saturday as more bodies were recovered from the eight affected districts, officials said.

Rescue teams continued to search for around 5,000 people, including at least 589 foreign nationals, who remain missing, while more than 13,000 people have been rescued, officials said.

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Among those rescued on Saturday was a 60-year-old woman who was pulled out alive from the upper floor of a four-storey house buried under mud and debris in Nuwakot district’s Bidur town. She had been trapped there for 10 days.

The woman, Chandika Shrestha, was found unconscious by an Armed Police Force team and flown to the Nepali Army’s Maithili Barracks in Trishuli for treatment.

The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal. The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.

The disaster also killed at least 21 people on the Chinese side, while more than 500 people remain missing in Tibet, according to Chinese media reports.

Of the total bodies recovered in Nepal’s eight districts so far, 758 were adults, 85 were children and 501 were recovered with body parts missing, officials said, attributing the condition of the bodies to prolonged exposure to water and the weight of debris.

As many as 360 bodies were recovered in Chitwan district alone, the highest among all districts, followed by 230 in Nawalparasi West and 222 in Nawalparasi East. The rest were from Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Gorkha, Dhading and Tanahun districts, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

As many as 1,030 bodies were temporarily buried after required procedures, including DNA collection, were completed.

Only 96 bodies have been handed over to families so far after identification, according to NDRRMA.

Identifying the dead has emerged as a major challenge. Bodies recovered after being swept downstream have often been severely damaged, decomposed or recovered only in parts, making identification by face, clothing or personal belongings difficult, officials said.

Prolonged immersion in water and exposure to mud and debris can destroy identifiable features, while some remains have been fragmented or mixed with other remains.

Forensic experts say DNA testing has therefore become crucial, but it is a time-consuming process requiring samples from the remains and biological relatives for comparison.

Fingerprints and dental records can also establish identities, but their usefulness depends on the condition of the remains and the availability of matching records, officials said.

Major rescue operations are underway at hydropower projects in flood-affected districts, where hundreds of men are believed to be trapped in tunnels. Teams of experts from India and China are assisting their Nepali counterparts in the operations.

Since Friday, three people have been rescued from tunnels. Two Nepalese men were rescued from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project on Friday, and a Chinese man was rescued from the Upper Trishuli I project on Saturday.

Also, an Indian tunnel rescue team, which is continuing to work alongside the Nepalese Army, has made a temporary track inside the Chilime tunnel in Rasuwa district to allow more heavy equipment to reach the affected areas, authorities said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, authorities continued to monitor water levels in several rivers, including the Koshi, Narayani, Bagmati, Karnali, Mahakali, Kankai, Kamal, Kamala, Babai, Eastern Rapti and Western Rapti, while joint rescue teams continued search and rehabilitation operations for the eleventh day