Nepal Marks Final Mourning Day for 1,380 Killed in Border Flood — SkimNews
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- Nepal observed a national day of mourning on Sept 7 for more than 1,380 people killed and 5,500 still missing after a glacier collapse on Aug 26 triggered a massive mudslide along the border with China's Tibet region
- Government offices at home and at missions abroad flew the national flag at half-mast to mark the 13th day after death, the traditional Hindu final mourning day observed with rituals and food offerings
- Nepalese search teams rescued four people in recent days — a Chinese national pulled from a tunnel on Sept 5, two hydropower workers on Sept 4, and a Nepali woman extracted from her buried house on Sept 5
- Nepal's army focused rescue operations on hydropower stations in the region, where spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said authorities believe survivors may still be found
- Chinese officials reported on Sept 6 that workers had recovered 12 more bodies in Tibet, with hundreds still missing on the Chinese side of the border
- President Ram Chandra Paudel toured flood-hit areas on Sept 7, while the government skipped larger ceremonies because rescue operations remain active, according to NEOC official Phanindra Paudel
- Security personnel at Nuwakot district jail relocated 923 prisoners to higher ground before floodwaters hit; Prime Minister Balendra Shah said 50 inmates who broke through walls and gates during the chaos were recaptured barely 100 meters away
Why it matters: At 1,380 confirmed dead and 5,500 missing from a single glacier-collapse event, this ranks among Nepal's deadliest recorded disasters, and four rescues days after the disaster suggest the missing count could swing sharply in either direction as hydropower tunnels are cleared. The confirmed toll on China's Tibet side — with hundreds still unaccounted for there — sets up a cross-border humanitarian coordination test between Kathmandu and Beijing.
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