Number of missing in Nepal and China floods soars to nearly 3,000

Buildings are damaged and partially buried in mud and debris in the Devighat area of Nepal's Nuwakot district on Friday in the aftermath of a devastating flash flood. | Atul Loke / The New York Times

AFP-JIJI

Aug 29, 2026

Nuwakot, Nepal – The number of people missing in Nepal and China surpassed 2,400 late Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster days after a tsunamilike wall of water and debris swept away villages and killed hundreds.

Rescuers were battling through mud even as the threat of new floods loomed, with emergency teams recovering 586 bodies so far — and some of the dead swept downstream as far away as India.

The new figures came as Nepal’s disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing persons list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.

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