Nepal-China flood survivors reach safe areas as families await news of
nearly 3,000 missing
[August 29, 2026]
By VICTORIA MILKO and SHRISTI KAFLE
NUWAKOT, Nepal (AP) — Most arrive with nothing except the clothes they
are wearing.
As rescue efforts in communities buried by catastrophic flash floods
along the border between Nepal and China entered their fourth day
Saturday, authorities continued finding survivors and transporting them
to safety. At relief centers, as some arrive, families wait anxiously
for news of their loved ones as the death toll and the number of people
unaccounted for continued to rise.
After Nepali authorities updated their figures Saturday, the combined
toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 633 dead and nearly 3,000 people
missing. Chinese authorities have reported seven deaths and more than
550 missing.
In Nuwakot, one of the Nepali districts devastated by the floods,
helicopters resumed operations before noon Saturday after poor weather
temporarily hampered aerial rescue activities.
Some helicopters were loaded with boxes and bags of aid, including
clothes, instant noodles, crackers and rice. Others returned from the
flood-hit areas carrying survivors.
An older man was carefully helped off one helicopter, while a soldier
carried an older woman on his back to a medical tent. There, medics
checked her blood pressure, breathing and heartbeat, as well as her
teeth and gums.
About a dozen people emerged from another helicopter. Soldiers carried
several babies who had been evacuated.
The evacuees had been brought from the nearby community of Trishuli.
Villagers return to devastated homes
As people were still leaving Trishuli, some village residents were
returning to see what could be salvaged from their decimated homes.
One boy walked out of the village carrying muddy sandals from his house.
Another woman, Shoba Shretha, returned to find her dog, Sweetie, who she
was forced to leave behind when the floods came. Shretha sat on the
ground petting her and feeding her water from a bottle.
At some point, relief coordinators cleared villagers, reporters and
volunteers from the entrance to Trishuli, as excavation equipment drove
into the flooded village to dig.
Families begin to lose hope
In Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, relatives and friends gathered outside
the main government hospital from early morning, desperately searching
for news of missing loved ones.
Many shuffled between the help desk and the hospital notice board,
clutching photographs and scanning injured patients’ lists in the hope
of finding them.
Dil Maya Lama stood weeping outside the help desk at the hospital,
searching for information about her missing 26-year-old brother, a
driver for a hydropower company in Rasuwa. She had traveled from
Ramechhap, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) away.
“I came here with the hope that I might find him,” she said. “There is
no information about him.”
Nelza Moktan anxiously sought information about her missing cousin, who
also worked as a driver in Rasuwa.
“I feel hopeless. It has already been four days,” she said.
Families covered hospital walls with posters showing missing relatives,
photographs and contact numbers in a desperate appeal for any clue that
could bring them home.
Nearby were photographs of unidentified bodies which officials put up in
hopes they could be recognized by families or friends.
Gajendra Rawat, a security official at the hospital help desk, said
families had so far registered around 1,600 missing persons since the
disaster struck. “People are coming from all parts of Nepal,” he said.
Families search paper lists for any clue
Back in Nuwakot, military personnel taped sheets of paper listing
dozens of missing people to a wall at a relief center, prompting
families to crowd around them.
Some scanned lists of the missing and dead, took photos and wiped away
tears as they looked through the names.
Rajesh Kumar Ram, who is searching for his son, desperately searched a
list for his son's name.
“I’m hopeful, by chance that my son is somewhere," he said, crying as he
spoke. "Maybe they find him stuck somewhere. I’m waiting for that moment
only.”
Outside, people walked along mud-covered streets past signs of the
disaster. On one street, a truck was stuck in the mud with its bed
raised in the air.
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Residents carry their belongings salvaged from their damaged homes
filled with mud and debris in Devighat, in Nepal's Nuwakot district,
Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026, following the Aug. 26 flash floods. (AP
Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
As the day passed, more people gathered at the army barracks hoping
to be reunited with missing loved ones or to find out information
about them.
Priti Kharel stood outside the entrance to the barracks, holding a
poster with a picture of her brother, Milan Kharel, who works as an
engineering geologist at Doosan Enerbility. His family hasn’t heard
from him since the floods.
“It’s already four days,” said Kharel, who believes his brother
could be one of the people trapped inside the tunnel of a hydropower
construction site, where authorities have rescued some people. She
said friends who were there told the family that Milan might still
be there.
“We want the government to rescue him as soon as possible,” she
added.
Rescuers battle to find survivors at disaster-hit areas
Search and rescue efforts continued at several locations in Nepal
and China’s Tibet, including the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project
in Nepal’s Rasuwa district and the severely damaged Gyirong border
crossing on the Chinese side.
Nepali Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said rescue
efforts would continue at the hydropower construction site, where
authorities believe more than 100 people are trapped in a tunnel
filled with thick mud.
Basnet said rescuers had used baskets and ropes to reach some
people, but the operation remained difficult because of 4 to 5 feet
(1.2 to 1.5 meters) of mud and the limited number of places where
helicopters could land.
He said rescue teams had also been forced to relocate temporarily
when authorities issued warnings about possible further flooding.
Rescuers have been on high alert for more flooding from a new lake
that formed high up in the Himalayan mountains after the initial
floods Wednesday. Experts warned that the lake, created after a
glacier collapse that triggered the floods, was starting to
overflow.
Monitoring data from the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources showed
late Friday that the lake had dwindled in size. The water level
dropped by 10 meters (32 feet) from the high point on Thursday
morning, Chinese broadcaster CCTV said.
Aid trucks could be seen traveling from Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital,
toward the affected areas.
Search continues at devastated China-Nepal border crossing
The Chinese broadcaster showed images Saturday of rescuers arriving
at Gyirong Port, the hard-hit border crossing with Nepal. Some
reached the area by foot or via rafts, while others dropped down
from drones flown to the area. “Anyone, anyone?” rescuers yelled.
It was not immediately known how many people were at the border
checkpoint building when the floods hit.
On Saturday, Nepal’s disaster agency said the death toll had climbed
to 626 with 2,426 people missing in the country. More than 3,700
people have been rescued in Nepal so far.
The death toll in China rose to seven Friday as state media showed
evacuations of villages and leaders’ efforts to direct the relief
response. China's state media said 554 people were missing on the
Chinese side. Hundreds of the missing are foreigners who were in the
area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak.
___
Kafle reported from Kathmandu, Nepal. Associated Press journalists
Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru, India;
Upendra Mansingh in Nuwakot district, Nepal; Aijaz Hussain in New
Delhi, India; and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this
report.
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