UPDATED 26 August 2026, 16:24 UTC. This story is developing. Figures are being revised as bodies are recovered and communications are restored. Earlier versions of this report cited tolls of nine and of 22.
The Office of the Prime Minister says 95 bodies have been recovered after Wednesday’s flash flood in Rasuwa district, with 391 foreign tourists and 85 security personnel still out of contact, according to the Kathmandu Post.
Toll Consolidates at 95 as Identification Continues
The Kathmandu Post, updating at 21:05 local time, reported the prime minister’s office figure of 95 dead. Identification of the recovered bodies is not complete.
Earlier counts during the day were interim rather than contradictory. The same paper reported 22 confirmed dead in an afternoon update, then 72 citing the Armed Police Force, before the prime minister’s office consolidated the figure at 95. Nepal Police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle had given 95 to Al Jazeera earlier in the day.
The figure is still moving. The South China Morning Post, updating at 23:09 Hong Kong time, cited Nepalese police putting the toll at 97 dead and 54 rescued. That is 11 minutes older than the Kathmandu Post update carrying the prime minister’s office figure of 95, so the two are near-simultaneous counts from different authorities rather than a revision.
Where the Bodies Were Recovered
Nepal Police gave a district breakdown of the 95 recovered bodies. Most were found far downstream of Rasuwa, along the Trishuli and Narayani, with Chitwan accounting for the largest share.
| District | Bodies recovered |
|---|---|
| Chitwan | 33 |
| Dhading | 18 |
| Gorkha | 16 |
| Nuwakot | 11 |
| Nawalparasi East | 11 |
| Tanahun | 5 |
| Rasuwa | 1 |
| Total | 95 |
Police recorded the dead as 27 women, 37 men, six girls, five boys and 20 people whose identities have not been established. A further 63 people injured in the flood are under treatment in hospitals, according to Nepal Police.
Nearly 500 Tourists and 85 Security Personnel Unaccounted For
The Kathmandu Post reported 391 foreign tourists and 93 domestic tourists out of contact. Nepal’s Tourism Board, citing tour operators, had earlier put the foreign figure at 341, including 142 Indian, 17 Malaysian, 12 British, 8 South Korean, 4 South African, 1 Australian and 1 Dutch nationals, with at least three US nationals among them. Many were on pilgrimage routes toward Mount Kailash in Tibet.
Missing security personnel now total 85: 44 from the Nepali Army, 28 from Nepal Police and 13 from the Armed Police Force. A further 60 people connected to hydropower projects are out of contact, including workers at the 20 MW Langtang Khola scheme, 35 of whom were inside a tunnel when the water arrived. Fifteen employees of the Rasuwa Customs Office in Timure are also missing, along with 26 bank employees, according to the Kathmandu Post.
Two Competing Explanations for the Surge
Officials and researchers have offered different accounts. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal said an earthquake triggered a large landslide that blocked the Bhote Koshi before releasing it, according to CBS News.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development points instead to ice. “The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in 14 months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the centre.
Both accounts describe a blocked channel failing at once, which is why there was no warning. The initial theory of a glacial lake outburst flood on the Tibetan side has been set aside. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology ruled out rainfall early, noting precipitation in Rasuwa over the previous 24 hours was under seven millimetres.
Casualties Reported Across the Border in Tibet
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, quoting a rescue command centre in Gyirong and reporting by 8pm local time, put the Tibetan side at three dead and 265 missing. The mudslide struck the Gyirong port trade hub, cutting roads, communications and power across parts of the Shigatse region. CCTV said the slide originated on the Nepali side of the border.
President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out rescue effort and called for stronger monitoring and early warning to prevent secondary disasters, according to CCTV. Tibetan authorities closed several highways and warned that more roads were at risk of mudslides.
19 Bridges Gone and 430 MW of Capacity Damaged
The Kathmandu Post reported 19 motorable bridges damaged and 40 kilometres of road destroyed, a far wider figure than the two bridges reported in the first hours after the flood.
The Nepal Electricity Authority said roughly 430 megawatts of production capacity was damaged across hydropower and solar facilities, more than 12 percent of Nepal’s installed base of about 3.2 GW. Eight operational hydropower projects totalling 354 MW and five under construction sustained damage. The Trishuli and Devighat plants were hit directly, and three blocks and a substation of a 25 MW solar plant were destroyed.
Around 60 houses near Trishuli Bazaar in Nuwakot were swept away. Nepal Police confirmed damage to the Area Police Office in Timure and the posts at Syaphrubesi and Rasuwagadhi.
Rescue Effort Slowed by Weather
The Nepali Army has rescued 88 people, according to the Kathmandu Post, with 13 admitted to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Twelve helicopters were deployed, four of them army aircraft and the rest private, but flights have been repeatedly disrupted by poor weather.
South Korea is sending a joint rapid-response team after eight of its nationals working on a hydropower plant went missing and ten more were stranded. Malaysia’s foreign ministry said 11 Malaysians in Rasuwa had lost contact. Nepal has asked both India and China for assistance.
Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitawan and Gorkha districts remain on high alert. The WHO is preparing medicines and equipment for around 1,000 people along with 15 emergency tents, and the Ministry of Health has reserved 100 emergency beds at Bir Hospital and the Trauma Centre in Kathmandu. The Bhote Koshi flows into India as the Gandak, and Indian authorities downstream have been notified.
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