{"id":44389,"date":"2026-09-02T11:21:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=44389"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:21:59","slug":"nepal-flood-death-toll-crosses-1-000-rescuers-reach-remote-areas","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nepal-flood-death-toll-crosses-1-000-rescuers-reach-remote-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal flood death toll crosses 1 000, rescuers reach remote areas"},"content":{"rendered":"
The death toll from Nepal\u2019s devastating floods surpassed 1 000 as rescuers deployed heavy machinery, helicopters \u200cand excavators to reach thousands still missing nearly a week after the Himalayan disaster tore through towns and valleys.<\/div>\n
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Specialised rescue teams from China, India and Nepal built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects, using excavators to try to rescue nearly 300 workers trapped inside tunnels.<\/div>\n
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A glacier collapse on August 26 sent a deluge of ice, rock and mud sweeping through the impoverished \u200bnation\u2019s border region with China.<\/div>\n
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At least 639 people remain stranded in devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts, Nepal\u2019s disaster management authority \u200bsaid on Tuesday.<\/div>\n
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The death toll rose to 1 050, while about 4 000 people remain missing, including 583 foreign nationals.<\/div>\n
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The disaster left at least \u20602.2 million tons of debris, according to a preliminary estimate by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including parts of buildings, rocks, and sediment.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe amount of debris shows the scale \u200bof the destruction and the challenge communities face as they clear homes, roads and public spaces and begin to rebuild,\u201d it said.<\/div>\n
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More than 11 000 people have been rescued, and power \u200band communication lines were restored in some areas, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post on Monday.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe did not have the time to grab anything before fleeing,\u201d said a survivor from the hard-hit Rasuwa district, who had walked to Nuwakot with scores of other survivors. \u201cWhat we were wearing is the only pair of clothes we have. And even they are wet from rain.\u201d<\/div>\n
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In China, rescue teams worked through the night to reopen access to the Nepali border, on a steep mountain gorge flanked by unstable cliffs and fast-flowing river channels.<\/div>\n
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Beijing will \u200bsend DNA testing experts to disaster-hit areas and a second batch of relief supplies, including drones and water purification, its foreign ministry said.<\/div>\n
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South Korea, nine of whose nationals were working at a hydropower \u200cproject and \u2060are missing, said it will send a 44-member emergency relief team to support search-and-rescue operations in Rasuwa.<\/div>\n
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Nepal last week declined foreign participation in general search and rescue but said it needed specialised services and advanced technological support in areas such as life-detecting machines, large refrigerators and pre-fabricated bridges.<\/div>\n
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Aid worth over $42 million flowed into the country after the disaster, Shah said, with contributions expected to increase.<\/div>\n
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Shah said 279 workers were rescued from hydropower projects, with joint teams from Nepal, India and China working on search-and-rescue operations.<\/div>\n
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Rescuers are contending \u200bwith collapsed tunnels and floodwaters that have \u200bmade access difficult at several hydropower sites \u2060where the largest numbers of people are believed to be trapped, an army source said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOur first rescue observation at Trishuli Hydro Power plant shows that it is not humanly possible to go into the tunnel,\u201d Asish Gurung, a mountain guide helping in the tunnel rescue, told\u00a0\u200bReuters<\/i>\u00a0from Haku village in Rasuwa district.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe need machines like bulldozers and excavators. There may be about 500 people trapped inside,\u201d \u200bhe said.<\/div>\n
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There has been \u2060a boom in hydropower projects in Nepal since the turn of the century as the mountainous nation sought to take advantage of its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and expand electricity exports to neighbouring India.<\/div>\n
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Shah said the disaster signalled the growing risks the Himalayan region faces from a warming planet.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe time has come for us to strongly raise before the \u2060international community the \u200bdisasters we are experiencing as a consequence of climate change,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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Kanni Wignaraja, a United Nations Assistant \u200bSecretary-general, told Reuters that Nepal, which depends on glaciers for both income and water supplies, now faces \u201csome very, very hard choices.\u201d<\/div>\n
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–Reuters–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43918,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-44389","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The death toll rose to 1 050, while about 4 000 people remain missing, including 583 foreign nationals.","published_date":"","news_description":"The death toll rose to 1 050, while about 4 000 people remain missing, including 583 foreign nationals.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44390,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44389\/revisions\/44390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}