Kathmandu, Sep 04: The death toll due to flash floods in Nepal rose to 1,295 on Friday as more bodies were recovered from the affected areas, while two men were rescued alive from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project after being trapped for nine days.
The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, leaving a trail of destruction.
So far, 1,293 bodies have been recovered from eight different districts across Nepal. These include 359 bodies recovered in Chitwan district, 221 in Nawalparasi East, 212 in Nawalparasi West and 186 in Nuwakot.
Similarly, 140 bodies were recovered in Rasuwa, 72 in Gorkha, 65 in Dhading and 38 from Tanahu, according to Nepal Police.
With two victims of the flood dying in two different hospitals in Kathmandu on Friday, the death toll has risen to 1,295.
The joint command of security forces is actively conducting search and rescue operations for the estimated 5,000 missing. So far, 13,093 people have been rescued from the affected areas.
The two men rescued alive from the tunnel were identified as Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor on the project, and Sanjay Sah, 30, a foreman, according to the Public Relations Directorate of the Nepal Army.
Maharjan was flown to Nepal Army Hospital in Chhauni, Kathmandu, and his condition is said to be critical, while Sah is under treatment at the Trishuli hospital in Nuwakot, according to Raja Ram Basnet, Nepali Army spokesperson.
Sah, who is from Saptari district in Madhesh province, told security personnel that he was chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ mantra for the last nine days while trapped inside the tunnel.
“I was chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra for the past nine days,” he said, briefly talking about the incident soon after he was taken out safely.
Maharjan’s wife said her husband, who is from Kathmandu, had been given a “second life” and thanked rescuers who risked their lives to save him.
“He has returned with a second life. We are extremely happy,” his wife, Hira Shobha, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. “We had been waiting. I am now going to the hospital to see my husband.”
Meanwhile, the sixth and seventh relief flights from India carrying 21.5 tonnes of relief materials arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday night.
“India’s support to Nepal’s relief efforts for Rasuwa flash flood continues: 6th and 7th relief flights (C-130Js) arrived in Kathmandu tonight carrying 21.5 tonnes of relief assistance, including forensic kits and medical supplies,” India’s Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava said in a post on X.
“These materials were handed over to Nepal, and will help strengthen ongoing Nepali relief and rescue efforts and support communities affected by Rasuwa floods,” he added.
Around 600 children remain unaccounted for in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.
An estimated 280 children are missing in Rasuwa, and between 300 and 350 others remain unaccounted for in the neighbouring Nuwakot in central Nepal, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported, citing figures compiled by local Education Development and Coordination Units (EDCUs), local governments, and educational institutions.
Surya Bahadur Khatri, head of the Nuwakot Education Development and Coordination Unit, said, “We are actively liaising with headmasters to collect verified data on missing students, though school heads are struggling to provide exact figures due to broken communications.”
“Although a few missing students have been located, new reports of unaccounted-for children continue to arrive from various schools. We estimate that at least 300 pupils are missing in our district.”
In Bidur Municipality of Nuwakot alone, roughly 250 children are missing since the floods hit, according to Navaraj Sapkota, school inspector of the municipality’s education unit.
“The situation on the ground is deeply distressing. In some cases, we have located surviving parents who cannot find their children, while in other instances, surviving students are searching for missing parents,” said Sapkota.
Bidur houses 170 educational institutions—142 community schools and 28 private schools.
In Rasuwa, Durga Prasad Silwal, chief of the local education unit, said that official verification is ongoing but preliminary records indicate that 280 students are currently missing across the district.
The disaster has also taken a toll on teachers and school staff. Education units confirmed that 22 teachers and school staff members remain missing across both districts.
Additionally, several teachers from Dhading and Gorkha who had travelled to Rasuwa for pilgrimage were caught in the deluge and remain missing.
Rasuwa reported 16 missing teachers—15 from community schools and one from a private institution—while Nuwakot confirmed six missing teachers, according to Kathmandu Post.
Although several bodies of victims have been recovered in downstream districts, authorities have yet to verify the exact number of identified students or teachers.
According to the Ministry of Education data, the floods affected 22 schools across Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading, with 12 institutions completely destroyed, the report said.
Separately, Nepal’s government has announced a special relief package for businesses hit by the devastating floods, offering concessions, loan restructuring and cheaper credit, as authorities began work on relocating settlements destroyed by the disaster.
The Nepal Cabinet on Thursday described the business-related measures as the first phase of its recovery package, the Kathmandu Post reported.
Businesses whose commercial vehicles, transport equipment, plants, machinery, tools or other equipment were destroyed beyond repair or swept away will be allowed to import replacements without paying customs duties, the report said.
The concession will also apply to goods on which customs duties had already been paid but which were destroyed before reaching their destination. Replacement goods will have to be imported through any customs office within six months, it said.
Provincial and local governments will also be asked to provide temporary concessions on property and business taxes, building permit fees and other local charges for affected businesses and properties, the report added.
The government has directed Nepal Rastra Bank, the country’s central bank, to facilitate restructuring or rescheduling of loans taken by flood-affected borrowers, it said.
The Insurance Authority has separately been asked to speed up claims by allowing insurers to deploy surveyors through simplified procedures. Insurers will be required to provide advance payments of up to 50 per cent of estimated losses based on preliminary assessments.
The relief measures come as authorities prepare a longer-term plan for communities whose homes and settlements were swept away.
