Nepal’s Bhote Koshi flood crisis deepens as more than 1,100 bodies and remains are recovered, thousands remain missing and multinational teams search hydropower tunnels.
Updated: September 2, 2026
Kathmandu: Nepal continues to confront a major humanitarian crisis one week after a massive ice-and-rock avalanche triggered catastrophic flooding along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah told Parliament that 1,114 bodies or human remains had been recovered, 3,916 people remained out of contact, and 11,993 people had been rescued. However, an afternoon Nepal Police report placed the number of recovered remains at 1,127 and the missing count at 4,858.
The differing totals reflect separate government databases and the difficulty of verifying reports from devastated communities, foreign-tourist groups and hydropower construction sites. Authorities have also clarified that recovery figures include partial human remains; they should therefore not automatically be interpreted as the same number of individually confirmed deaths.
Search continues inside hydropower tunnels
Nepali Army personnel and specialist teams from India, China, South Korea and other countries are searching damaged hydropower facilities where hundreds of workers may be trapped.
Officials believe 46 workers could still be alive inside a chamber at the 111-megawatt Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project because food and water were reportedly stored there. Thick mud, restricted tunnel access and enormous quantities of debris have slowed attempts to reach them. At least 279 people have already been rescued from affected hydropower projects.
At Upper Trishuli-1, the developer said 557 of the 1,433 people working at the site remained unaccounted for, while 876 had been rescued or had established contact.
Injured and displaced receive assistance
According to the prime minister, 292 injured people were admitted to hospitals, of whom 182 had been discharged. Medical teams are providing emergency treatment, psychological counselling and disease-prevention support.
Around 2,653 affected people were receiving assistance in 19 temporary shelters in Nuwakot. Separately, about 400 survivors—mainly from Timure—had taken refuge at Kathmandu’s Yellow Gumba monastery, where local residents and charities were supplying food and essential items.
DNA samples are being collected to identify recovered remains. By Wednesday evening, samples from 539 families of missing people had been registered, while only a small proportion of the recovered bodies had been identified and returned to relatives.
India continues rescue and relief support
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said 163 Indian nationals had been rescued in Nepal as of September 1. A 19-member Indian forensic team is assisting with identification work in Kathmandu, while a specialist tunnel-rescue team has entered hydropower tunnels near Chilime.
The Nepal government said numerous countries and international agencies had supplied or pledged humanitarian assistance. Rescue teams have used helicopters, drones and heavy machinery, although broken roads, collapsed bridges and unstable slopes continue to obstruct operations.
Damage and rehabilitation
The UN Development Programme estimates that the disaster generated approximately 2.2 million tonnes of debris. Its preliminary assessment covers 84,270 affected people across 17 municipalities in six districts, while modelled building damage is estimated at $158.6 million. That figure does not include the disaster’s total economic losses.
Eight operational and four under-construction hydropower projects were damaged. The floods also destroyed 31 motorable bridges and damaged 48 suspension bridges.
Nepal now plans to install cameras, seismic sensors and satellite communication equipment near Timure to strengthen early warnings. Officials remain concerned that unstable terrain could produce additional landslides, although two temporary lakes created by the avalanche have reportedly drained.
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