Rescuers retrieve flood survivors caked in mud as death toll in Nepal-China border disaster climbs
Rescuers pulled survivors caked in dark brown mud from the Nepal-China border floods that killed 579 in Nepal and seven in China, leaving 1,924 missing in Nepal and 554 in China.
Source: Associated Press · August 28, 2026 at 8:01 PM · AI-assisted report
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NEPAL-CHINA BORDER, NUWAKOT DISTRICT, GYIRONG PORT, RASUWA DISTRICT, TIMURE, NEPAL, CHINA, TIBETAN SIDE, HIMALAYAS, 29 AUGUST 2026 —
Rescuers pulled survivors caked in dark brown mud from the Nepal-China border floods that killed 579 in Nepal and seven in China, leaving 1,924 missing in Nepal and 554 in China.
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Helicopters plucked stranded people from rooftops and mountain slopes as the two governments raced to respond after a glacier collapse triggered flash floods on Wednesday. A Chinese team rappelled into a damaged checkpoint area as warnings grew of a newly formed lake that was starting to overflow. Nepal’s army deployed to rescue more than 100 people believed trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower plant in the worst-hit district.
The Nepal disaster-management authority raised the death toll to 579 on Friday from 553 a day earlier. More than 3,700 people have been rescued so far, yet the number missing nearly doubled to 1,924 as more residents were added to the tally. China’s state media reported seven deaths and 554 missing on its side.
Foreigners accounted for hundreds of the missing. U.S. officials said about 90 U.S. citizens remained unaccounted for on Thursday.
Rescue efforts were complicated by thick layers of mud. In Rasuwa district, army rescuers struggled to help people trapped in a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. “It is complicated to find the entry and exit points of the tunnel because everything has been covered by mud,” said army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet.
Nepal reversed an earlier decision and said it would allow foreign rescue teams and experts to assist, the Kathmandu Post reported. Authorities issued a fresh alert after receiving information that a dam on the Tibet side had burst and warned that a newly formed lake 10 km from Gyirong Port was overflowing and could release more water and debris.
Monitoring data from China’s Ministry of Water Resources later showed the lake had dwindled, with the water level dropping by 10 metres from its high point on Thursday morning. About 680 rescuers eventually reached the Gyirong area on foot, by raft and via drones.
The United Nations’ regional director for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja, highlighted the outpouring of financial support from neighboring countries. “Sri Lanka has its own huge fiscal problems, but it has just sent $1 million immediately to the Nepal government,” she said.
Scientists studying satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it and registering as a magnitude 5.2 tremor. The rockfall swelled rivers in the valleys below, sending a torrent that swept away buildings, bridges and earth in Tibet and Nepal.
Customs officer Karbir Gaire, one of the survivors in Timure—the closest Nepalese village to the border—described the moment the ground shook and a black storm rushed toward him as he worked at his desk on Wednesday morning.
Related: Kanni Wignaraja