Nepal observes national day of mourning for victims of flash flood disaster

ByHelen Sullivan BBC News.

Key points

• Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet informed Agence France-Presse that rescue efforts were continuing "with the same tempo we had on day one".
• Nepal's president, Ram Chandra Paudel, toured areas devastated by the floods on Monday, an aide informed Reuters.
• She was discovered alive on the fourth floor of the building by Nepal's Armed Police Force and airlifted to a hospital in Kathmandu for treatment.
• On Sunday rescue workers in China recovered twelve bodies in the Nepal-Tibet border, using excavators, shovels and ground penetrating radar at the site.
• Almost two weeks afterwards, more than 5, 000 residents are still missing.

Nepalis observed a national day of mourning for the victims of the flash flood on Monday, lighting candles to mark the last day of the traditional 13-day Hindu mourning period.

While flags were flown at half mast, commemorations were scaled back as rescue teams continue to search for survivors. Candlelight vigils were planned for Monday evening.

At least 1, 287 individuals are known to have died after a flash flood, believed to have been triggered by a glacial collapse, swept through villages in a Himalayan valley along border between Nepal and Tibet.

Phanindra Paudel of the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) informed the Reuters news agency that there would be "no government programmes organised as the rescue and search operation is still going on in the flood-hit areas."

According to The home ministry, administration offices, as well as missions abroad, would fly the national flag at half mast to mark the final day of the mourning period.

"Our focus is on search and rescue at three levels – on ground, by air, and in the tunnels, " he remarked. "We are making sure that no one is still stranded."

Among the few places where rescuers still see a chance of finding survivors is in tunnels that form part of the region's hydropower stations, with hundreds of workers among the missing.

Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix. This person is advising Nepali teams, remarked in an update on X that the operation meant facing "multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties and lives that may still be saved."

Four individuals have been rescued in recent days, three at hydropower stations or tunnels.

On Saturday, a 64-year-old Nepali woman was pulled from her buried house on Saturday, more than 10 days after a wall of ice, rock and mud partially buried her house in the Nuwakot district.

At least 5, 083 individuals are still missing in Nepal. On the Tibetan side, the death toll documented by Chinese media on Friday was 31, with 531 residents unaccounted for.

For now, nepal observes national day of mourning for victims of flash flood disaster remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.