Rescuers dig into tunnel as missing toll from Nepal flood tops 3,000
BIDUR, Nepal
A disaster rescue personnel looks on at the site of damaged buildings in the aftermath of flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 29, 2026. (AFP Photo)
Rescuers in Nepal and China battled on Aug. 30 through leg-sucking mud and the threat of rising rivers and a newly formed lake to search for thousands missing after a deadly wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayas, engulfing entire villages.
Latest figures from both countries put the number of missing at 3,044, with a further 750 confirmed deaths, and reports of some bodies possibly swept downstream as far away as India.
The disaster, which struck the China-Nepal border Aug. 26 morning, was caused by a glacial collapse, sending a wall of water and debris downstream, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Chinese rescuers near the Tibet border port that was hit by a deadly mudslide were “moved to a safe location” on Aug. 30, after a new lake was formed by a landslide, state media reported.
Nepali army troops and engineers were working on Aug. 30 to rescue workers believed trapped in a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site after they successfully inserted a pipe into the passage.
They have “started sending air through the small opening,” Nepali Home Minister Sudan Gurung said in a statement.
Overnight rain and rising river waters hampered efforts on Aug. 30, filling the excavation area with water before conditions eased and teams resumed efforts, the Nepal army said.
In an area home to vast energy infrastructure projects, Nepal’s disaster authority listed 933 hydropower workers among the missing.
China’s state news agency Xinhua reported on Aug. 30 that experts had said “a glacier on the southern slope of Lirung Peak in Nepal” fractured, triggering an ice-rock avalanche.
It said the torrent plummeted rapidly, forming a massive debris flow that traveled more than 20 kilometers before crashing into Gyirong Port.
“The sudden glacial collapse and flash flood is a devastating reminder of how fragile these mountain environments can be,” U.N. climate chief Simon Steill said in a statement.
Survivors face an agonizing wait to learn the fate of missing relatives and the prospect of rebuilding their lives from nothing.
“All the settlements near the river were swept away,” Buddhi Ram Dangol told AFP in Nepal’s Nuwakot district.
“There is nothing left.”
At an army base serving as a rescue hub in Bidur, relatives crowded around lists of rescued people pasted on a wall.
“I have come here looking for my son,” said Kalka Sharda, scanning the list in desperation.
On Aug. 30 Nepal’s disaster authority said 589 foreigners, including trekkers and Hindu pilgrims to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash, were unaccounted for.
The United States and Canada said they would provide $3.6 million each in humanitarian aid to Nepal.
The U.K. has offered $6.8 million, while the U.N. released $2.5 million in emergency funding.
The European Union on Aug. 28 promised $2.3 million, while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it had allocated more than $1 million and launched an emergency appeal for $31 million.