Nepal Ends Mourning as Search for Victims Continues

New Delhi, September 07, 2026 Nepal observed the traditional 13th and final day of mourning on Monday following the devastating flood and mudslide that struck the country’s border with China. The disaster has killed at least 1,380 people and left more than 5,500 missing. Despite the conclusion of the customary mourning period, rescue teams continued their search, encouraged by four recent rescues that raised hopes of finding more survivors. Government offices across Nepal and its diplomatic missions abroad flew the national flag at half-mast, the home ministry said. The 13th day after a death is regarded in Hindu tradition as the final day of mourning and is marked by rituals and food offerings. The disaster began on August 26 when a huge mass of mud and rock, triggered by a glacier breaking off, crashed into a river along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China’s Tibet, sweeping away towns and villages and burying roads and highways under mud and debris. Rescue teams in Nepal recently saved four people, including a Chinese national who was pulled from a tunnel on Saturday. Two hydropower workers were rescued from another tunnel on Friday, while a Nepali woman was brought out of her buried house on Saturday. Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said search teams were focusing on hydropower stations because authorities believe survivors could still be trapped there. In Tibet, Chinese officials said on Sunday that workers had recovered 12 more bodies as the search continued for hundreds of missing people. “There are no government programmes organised as the rescue and search operation is still going on in the flood-hit areas,” Phanindra Paudel of the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) told Reuters. President Ram Chandra Paudel was visiting flood-hit areas on Monday to assess the damage, according to his aide. In Nuwakot, one of the two worst-affected districts, security personnel saved 923 prisoners by moving them to higher ground before floodwaters reached their building. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said authorities also captured 50 prisoners who had broken through the prison wall and gates and fled about 100 metres as the flooding began. As Nepal formally reaches the end of its traditional mourning period, the search for those still missing remains the priority. The recent rescues demonstrate that hope persists even after the scale of the destruction, while authorities continue recovery and search operations across the worst-affected areas.