Nepal flood death toll reaches 623 with 2,500 missing after Himalayan glacial collapse

Glacial collapse and rising casualties

A detachment of rock and glacier from an altitude of 5,100 meters on Wednesday morning triggered flash floods and landslides along the border between Nepal and Tibet. Nepalese police confirmed 616 deaths in Nepal by Saturday morning, while Chinese state media reported seven fatalities on the Tibetan side, bringing the combined total to at least 623. Other tallies placed the count at 626. Over 2,500 people remain missing across the Himalayan region, including between 517 and 600 foreign nationals. Three Italian citizens, Marco Ratto of Rapallo and an Italian-Swiss couple, remain unaccounted for.

Tunnel rescues and stranded workers

Emergency operations focus on the Upper Trishuli Hydropower Project in Rasuwa district, where over 100 workers remain trapped inside a mountain tunnel after the Bhotekoshi river flooded the site. The Nepalese military evacuated 350 workers and local residents from the area despite heavy rains. Fourteen helicopters operate across settlements such as Temure, Syabrubesi, and Mailung, though thick mud complicates landing and takeoff procedures. Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet explained the difficulty facing aerial units.

Two helicopters were sent to the site, but locating the tunnel entrances remains very difficult.

Nepal disaster management authorities reported that over 4,400 people had been rescued across the country by Friday evening. Only four people were pulled from mountain tunnels on Friday morning. More than 1,545 individuals were injured or assisted, including 898 in Nuwakot, 644 in Rasuwa, and three in Dhading, with over 80 patients transferred to hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley.

Regional devastation and infrastructure loss

The disaster severed transport corridors and swept away villages across central Nepal. Chitwan suffered the highest confirmed death toll among administrative divisions, followed by Nawalparasi East, Gorkha, Nuwakot, Dhading, Tanahun, Nawalparasi West, and Rasuwa. By Friday, approximately 70% of recovered bodies remained unidentified, with hospital refrigeration facilities overwhelmed. The surge destroyed at least 20 bridges in the Trishuli river valley, the main trade route linking Kathmandu to China through the Gyirong border crossing. Two barrier lakes formed upstream after the glacial slide; one began spilling over, maintaining high water levels in the Bhotekoshi river and triggering secondary flood alerts.

Aid requests and diplomatic coordination

Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal stated that Nepal requested pre-fabricated Bailey bridges from India and China to restore transport routes. Khanal said the government requested foreign technical assistance for body identification, preservation, and trapped-worker extraction, but declined foreign search-and-rescue personnel. Officials cited the 2015 earthquake, when hundreds of foreign rescue teams caused congestion at Kathmandu airport. Italy sent a foreign ministry crisis unit and diplomats from New Delhi to assist in locating its missing citizens. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke on the deployment.

We sent a team from our foreign ministry crisis unit. It arrived in Kathmandu, and from the New Delhi embassy the consul and a senior official also arrived. We are there to try to provide answers to the families. Unfortunately, the situation is dramatic. There is a risk of another flood. We hope they can be found.