Nepal Observes National Mourning As Over 1300 Die In Flood Disaster, Thousands Still Missing | Sahara Reporters

Flags across the country flew at half-mast on Monday, and candlelight vigils were planned for the evening as Nepal marked the 13th day since the tragedy, in line with Hindu mourning customs.

Nepal has observed a national day of mourning on Monday for victims of catastrophic glacial floods, even as families of hydropower workers believed, trapped in tunnels held on to hope that rescuers might still find survivors.

The disaster, triggered by a glacial and mountain collapse along the China-Nepal border on August 26, has claimed at least 1,398 lives, with more than 5,500 people still unaccounted for — among them roughly 800 foreign nationals.

Flags across the country flew at half-mast on Monday, and candlelight vigils were planned for the evening as Nepal marked the 13th day since the tragedy, in line with Hindu mourning customs.

Rescuers pulled three hydropower workers alive from deep inside flooded tunnels over the weekend — two Nepali workers on Friday and a Chinese national on Saturday — a development that has renewed optimism that others trapped underground could still be found.

Nepal Army spokesman, Raja Ram Basnet, said search efforts were being maintained at full intensity to ensure no survivors remain stranded.

Whole communities have been wiped out by the floods, with infrastructure and homes destroyed across the affected districts.

Relatives of missing workers gathered in Kathmandu to press the government for quicker results.

Reena Amatya Shrestha, whose brother remains unaccounted for, said her family still holds on to hope but wants to see tangible progress from the rescue operation.

Australian tunnelling specialist Arnold Dix, who is assisting Nepali rescue teams, described the operation as unlike anything he had encountered before, noting that multiple rescue efforts were happening simultaneously across different sites, each with its own risks.

Teams from China, India and South Korea are also supporting the Nepali-led response.

Drone pilot, Adarsha Raj Bhusal, 24, recounted the harrowing conditions inside the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa district, describing sinking into thick mud up to his waist upon landing and watching fellow soldiers struggle just as badly.

President Ram Chandra Paudel visited relief camps in Nuwakot district on Monday to meet survivors displaced by the flooding.

With mortuaries overwhelmed, authorities have resorted to mass burials after collecting DNA samples for later identification.

Amid the devastation, there have been extraordinary survival stories. Chandika Shrestha, a 64-year-old woman pulled alive from her mud-buried home in Bidur on Saturday, had already been mourned by her family, who held a symbolic funeral believing she had died.

Her neighbour, Buddhi Lal Dongol, expressed joy at her survival and hope that other missing residents would also be found alive.

Scientists have not yet determined the precise cause of the glacial collapse, though climate change continues to accelerate glacial melt worldwide, heightening the risk of similar disasters.

Nepal — a largely rural country of about 30 million people with minimal historical contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions — says rebuilding could cost billions of dollars, straining an economy already under significant pressure.

A preliminary United Nations assessment put building damage alone at $158million, cautioning that the total losses, factoring in destroyed roads, bridges, farmland and humanitarian costs, would be considerably higher.

The disaster falls just before the anniversary of last year’s September 8 to 9 anti-corruption protests that led to the collapse of the previous government. According to Nepal’s disaster management agency, 1355 bodies have been recovered so far, with about 4996 people still missing.

In Kathmandu, volunteer groups spent Monday packing blankets, utensils and clothing for distribution to survivors, with one volunteer, Ashim GC, describing it simply as Nepalis looking out for their own.