THE DEATH TOLL from the devastating flooding in Nepal-Tibet last week has passed 1,000, as search and rescue efforts entered a seventh day.

Nepal’s disaster authority said that at least 987 people have died as a result of the disaster, with the number of missing now standing at 3,916.

In Tibet, Chinese state media have said that 16 people were killed and 546 remain unaccounted for.

This brings the overall total to 1,003 dead and 4,462 missing. 

The missing in Nepal include 583 foreigners from over 30 nationalities.

Nepalese army soldiers recover bodies of flash flood victims from a river in Chitwan, Nepal. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Two Irish citizens, 46-year-old Santosh Sahu and 18-year-old Spandan Sahu, are among the missing. Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs has said it “continues to closely monitor the situation” and is providing consular assistance.

The missing in Tibet includes 261 foreigners from 23 countries.

Among the missing foreigners, Indians make up one of largest proportions, with 275 citizens and another 128 people of Indian origin missing in Nepal, according to New Delhi.

There are 85 US citizens missing, according to the State Department on Sunday.

There are also 62 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 42 Australians, and 33 British citizens, according to reports, including both Nepal’s tourist board and embassies.

In India, authorities in Uttar Pradesh state said they had recovered 17 bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.

Indian authorities are seeking to identify them, and they are not included in the toll.

Tunnel rescue

The flooding was triggered by a glacial collapse, the US Geological Survey said.

Climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, raising the risk of such disasters.

अपर त्रिशुली-१ जलविद्युत आयोजनाको सुरङभित्र उद्धार टोली.........
"अँध्यारो सुरुङभित्र पनि आशा कहिल्यै निभ्दैन"#NepaliArmy#BhoteKoshiFlood pic.twitter.com/sdNBO8Ykki

— Nepali Army (@NepaliArmyHQ) September 1, 2026

Rescue teams are in a race against time in treacherous conditions to free around 100 hydropower workers believed trapped in multiple tunnels – digging, drilling and blasting through debris.

So far, three bodies have been pulled from two tunnels, and the teams have found routes blocked with mud.

An Indian army officer deployed as part of a specialised tunnel rescue team said rescuers were digging through “sludge”. He told AFP he was “still hopeful” there were survivors inside.

Nepal’s Home Affairs Ministry says 20,600 personnel have been mobilised, and that more than 3,100 people have been rescued from the disaster zone.

Army personnel were seen unloading bodies of victims from helicopters in Nepal’s Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts on Monday.

Amid the horror, there has been some hope; a six-year-old pulled out of the mud Friday was reunited with her parents after police found her crying for her mother.

“Her body was trapped in mud, but her head was outside,” Nepali Armed Police spokesman Netra Bahadur Karki told AFP.

“She is out of danger and recovering at a hospital.”