Nepal Flood Day 4: Death Toll Passes 620 as Missing Lists Stretch Across 30+ Countries
This is the third report in our Rasuwa / Bhote Koshi flood .
- First report (26 August): Devastating Flash Flood Hits Nepal’s Rasuwa District Near Tibet Border
- Second report (28 August): Death Toll Climbs to 469 as a New Natural Dam Threatens Another Surge
On Wednesday morning the first official count was a handful of deaths. By Friday morning it was 469. By Saturday morning, Nepal’s disaster authority put the number of recovered bodies at about 616 to 626. The missing list has grown even faster, because whole work camps, pilgrimage groups and riverside towns were added as contact was restored.
The disaster is no longer only a Nepal story. It is a multi-country missing-persons emergency. And upstream, China has warned that a natural debris dam is holding a new lake that has already started to overflow.
Updated death toll
As of Saturday 29 August 2026:
- Nepal: about 626 dead (NDRRMA morning update). Nepal Police district recoveries have been rising since Friday’s 469 figure, with most bodies still being found far downstream in Chitwan and Nawalparasi East, not only in Rasuwa.
- China / Tibet (Gyirong): about 5 to 7 confirmed dead, with hundreds still missing around Gyirong Port.
- India: at least 7 bodies recovered in rivers flowing out of Nepal.
These numbers will keep changing. Many victims were carried tens or hundreds of kilometres down the Bhote Koshi–Trishuli–Narayani system. Identification is slow. Some recovered bodies have not yet been named.
The Red Cross estimates tens of thousands of people were affected. More than 4,400 people have now been listed as rescued in Nepal.
Who is missing — country by country
This is the part that has become clearer since our last post.
Nepal’s missing count has jumped as authorities added local residents and hundreds of hydropower workers who were out of contact along the corridor. Saturday tallies put people “out of contact” in Nepal between about 1,924 and 2,426, depending on the bulletin. That list is not the same thing as a confirmed death list. Phones, power and roads are still down in parts of the valley.
On the Chinese side, state media have reported about 554–558 missing at Gyirong Port, including a large number of foreign nationals.
A widely cited compiled list of people reported missing after the flood, assembled from official and embassy figures, included:
| Country / place | Reported missing |
|---|---|
| Nepal (residents, workers, security, visitors) | hundreds to 1,000+ in official contact lists |
| China / Tibet side | about 554–558 |
| India | 98 to 320, depending on the cut-off (many pilgrims; some later rescued) |
| United States | about 65–90 |
| Ukraine | about 53–61 |
| Malaysia | about 51–55 |
| Australia | about 34–39 |
| United Kingdom | about 33 |
| Canada | about 25 |
| South Korea | about 9 |
| Singapore | about 8 |
| Germany | about 8 |
| Russia | about 8 |
| South Africa | about 6 |
| Latvia | about 6 |
| Japan | about 5 |
| New Zealand | about 5 |
| France | about 4 |
| Belgium | about 3 |
| Spain | about 3 |
| Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ireland, Netherlands | 2 each |
| Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Philippines, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia, Sweden | 1 each |
Read this table carefully. These are reported missing / uncontactable figures from different days, not a final death list. Some people have since been found. India is the largest foreign group because many travellers were on the Kailash Mansarovar route through Rasuwagadhi. The Nepal Tourism Board earlier said 85 Indians had been rescued while others remained unaccounted for. Embassies are still matching names.
Nepal’s own missing list also includes security and border staff:
- Nepal Army
- Nepal Police
- Armed Police Force
- Customs and immigration workers from Timure / Rasuwagadhi
Families should check official rescued-person lists before travelling into the damaged corridor.
WARNING: the upstream natural dam is overflowing
This is the most important safety update.
After Wednesday’s ice-and-rock avalanche blocked the valley, a natural dam of ice, rock and landslide debris formed near the confluence of the Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo. That blockage created a barrier lake above the Bhote Koshi.
China’s Ministry of Water Resources warned Nepal that:
- the lake had already stored about 2 million cubic metres of water
- it had started to overflow
- another 3 million cubic metres could flow in over the following days
- there was a high risk the dam could burst under pressure
Chinese engineers mapped the site with drones and 3D scanners. A Friday avalanche dumped more ice into the lake. Rescue teams on both sides were pulled back at least once when the overflow risk rose.
Saturday satellite images suggested the lake surface had begun to shrink as water leaked through the debris. That is not the same as “safe.” A loose natural dam can fail suddenly. Peak inflow risk was earlier flagged around 1 September.
If you are anywhere along the Bhote Koshi, Trishuli or Narayani banks — including rescue workers and people looking for relatives — stay on high ground until official agencies say otherwise.
Nepal’s Flood Forecasting Division and NDRRMA have repeated the same order: stay away from the river.
Why the first flood was so sudden
There was little rain in Rasuwa on Wednesday morning. The leading explanation remains:
- An ice-and-rock avalanche broke away high above the Lhende Khola.
- Debris blocked the narrow valley and built a temporary dam.
- The dam failed and released a sudden surge into Nepal.
The same corridor was hit in 2025. The Friendship / Miteri Bridge was rebuilt. It was destroyed again on 26 August.
What still stands destroyed
- Rasuwa remains cut off by road.
- The Betrawati–Rasuwagadhi highway is broken in many places.
- Dozens of bridges are gone.
- Hydropower plants along the corridor are damaged or shut, with hundreds of megawatts off the grid.
- Timure, Syabrubesi and the Rasuwagadhi crossing are wrecked.
Search teams are still digging. Hope of finding many more survivors is fading in the lowest settlements, but trapped hydropower workers and isolated hamlets are still being reached by helicopter.
We will keep updating this data as official bulletins change.
Previous posts:
https://steemit.com/nepal/@blaze.apps/devastating-flash-flood-hits-nepal-s-rasuwa-district-near-tibet-border
https://steemit.com/nepal/@blaze.apps/nepal-china-flood-update-death-toll-climbs-to-469-as-a-new-natural-dam-threatens-another-surge