The number of people killed in last week’s devastating landslides and flash flooding in Nepal and China surpassed 1,000 as of Tuesday morning, according to authorities, with more than 4,400 people still unaccounted for across both countries.
Mass burials are underway in Nepal, where authorities are laying hundreds of unidentified victims to rest in a mass grave, while rescue crews continue racing to reach roughly 900 workers feared trapped inside hydropower tunnels buried under thick mud. In China’s Gyirong port area, state media report that a single water tower remains the only structure still standing.
Latest Toll
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority updated the country’s death toll to 987 on Tuesday morning, with the number of missing falling to 3,916 and 11,814 people rescued so far. On the Chinese side of the border, state broadcaster CCTV reported at least 16 deaths as of Sunday, with at least 546 people still missing.
Human Stories Amid the Devastation
CNN teams on the ground have documented both the scale of loss and moments of resilience. Priya Adhikari, Nepal’s first female helicopter pilot, has flown roughly 100 rescue missions in under a week to reach survivors in hard-hit areas, describing the search effort to Anderson Cooper. In one striking case, five-year-old Manisha Magar was presumed dead after being swept away by the floodwaters, only for her parents to later see video footage confirming her rescue.
Elsewhere, reporters spoke with a man in Nepal tasked with the difficult work of reuniting families with the remains of missing loved ones, a process complicated by the condition of bodies recovered after days in the river. Families of missing foreigners, including roughly 80 Americans, have also travelled to Nepal in search of answers; one American doctor searching for her parents told Cooper the family is holding onto hope that they heeded evacuation warnings in time.
Missing Foreigners
Nepal’s tourism department has published a list naming 583 missing foreign nationals, representing citizens of 38 countries, including the United States, underscoring the disaster’s global reach. On the Chinese side of the border, authorities say at least 461 foreigners from 23 countries remain unaccounted for. Combined, more than 1,000 foreign nationals remain missing, with families still awaiting word.
