Death toll from the Aug 26 Himalayan flood rose to 1,066 across Nepal and Tibet on TuesdayTRISHULI BAZAAR (NUWANKOT, NEPAL): Death toll from the Aug 26 Himalayan flood rose to 1,066 across Nepal and Tibet on Tuesday, while 4,462 people remained missing as rescue operations entered a critical phase. Of those killed, 1,050 were in Nepal and 16 in Tibet.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority listed 3,916 people missing, including 583 foreign nationals, while China’s latest count listed another 546 missing in Tibet. Seven days after the flood, hope of finding survivors in the open along the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli corridor dimmed sharply.

Senior police officers and disaster management officials told TOI that, outside tunnels, underground powerhouses and other protected structures, “each successful rescue would now be a miracle”. This, even as teams searched stretches buried under sludge, boulders, uprooted trees and wreckage.

“The sheer volume and force of the flash flood left virtually no accessible pockets of shelter along the open riverbanks,” a senior Nepal Police officer coordinating ground operations said. After seven days under heavy debris and hardened silt, finding anyone alive out in the open has become extremely unlikely.

But we are not calling off the search.” Officials involved in surface searches said the force of the flood had stripped away settlements and vegetation along parts of the river corridor and deposited deep layers of mud, rock and timber downstream, leaving few protected spaces where someone caught in the open could survive for a week.

A senior Nepalese army officer involved in downstream search efforts added, “Our field units and canine squads are covering massive stretches of silt, but the ground reality is exceptionally grim. Anyone caught in the open bore the direct brunt of heavy boulders and torrents.

Our remaining operational hope for living survivors is largely concentrated on the underground project sites where air pockets might exist.” For India, the latest MEA missing-person list remained at 275 Indian nationals and 128 PIOs.

MEA didn’t revise the figure on Tuesday. It said 158 Indian nationals had been rescued by Monday night.

The strongest remaining hopes now centre on Nepal’s devastated hydropower projects. NDRRMA listed 639 people associated with hydel projects as missing, while Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN) put 894 people “out of contact” across 11 projects.