Nepal flood death toll rises to 1,287, with 5,083 missing

Rescue personnel pull out a locker from a deluged bank after flash floods at Trishuli Center in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on September 1, 2026. The huge wave of freezing water and debris, sparked by a glacial collapse on the China-Nepal border, killed at least 939 people and left nearly 4,500 missing, with Kathmandu warning reconstruction costs could run into the “billions of dollars”. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

Devastating floods on the China-Nepal border have killed at least 1,287 people in Nepal, the disaster authority said Friday, with the number of missing at 5,083.

Chinese state media reported 21 people killed in Tibet and 541 missing, taking the total toll from the August 26 glacial and mountain collapse to 1,308 dead and 5,624 missing.

More than 800 foreigners remain unaccounted for, including trekkers in the Himalaya mountains and pilgrims who had come to visit Mount Kailash in Tibet, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.

At least 17 bodies have also been pulled from rivers in India, which officials presume to have floated downstream from Nepal. They are not included in the toll.