Death Toll from Major Nepal Flood Rises to 359... 823 Missing (Comprehensive)

Death Toll Doubles from Previous Day
517 Foreign Nationals Among the Missing

The death toll from severe flooding in the Himalayan mountainous region of Nepal has surged to 359.

The Nuwakot region in Bagmati Province, Nepal, devastated by flooding. Photo by Yonhap News.

According to local Nepalese media 'Online Khabar' and AFP on August 27 (local time), Nepalese police announced that as of the afternoon, 359 people had died due to large-scale flooding that occurred the previous day in the Nuwakot area of Bagmati Province in northern Nepal.

As the search operation continued that day, more bodies were discovered in various parts of Bagmati Province, and the death toll, which had been 157 the previous day, nearly doubled.

The number of people reported missing, which was tallied at 484 the previous day, increased by more than 300 in a single day as additional reports were filed. Among the total of 823 missing persons, 517 are foreigners, and over 200 are Nepalese nationals.

The missing foreigners are reportedly from more than 30 countries, including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Italy, and Ukraine. Nine South Korean nationals, affiliated with Korea South-East Power Co. and Doosan Enerbility and working on a hydroelectric power plant in the region, also remain out of contact.

Of the 10 other South Korean employees of Doosan Enerbility known to have been stranded locally, nine were relocated to a safe area on this day.

The remaining individual, a site manager for Doosan Enerbility, stayed behind at the site. Two staff members from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal, including a consul and an administrative officer, also remained at the site.

A joint rapid response team composed of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Police Agency, and National Fire Agency of Korea departed from Incheon International Airport for Kathmandu, Nepal, that day.

Avi Narayan Kafle, spokesperson for the Nepal Police, said, "We have resumed the search and expect more bodies to be recovered. The number of fatalities is likely to rise."

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority of Nepal reported that 80 bridges and 40 kilometers of roads have been destroyed, and that 83 security personnel, including local police and soldiers, are missing.

This flood is believed to have occurred when a massive amount of glaciers and rocks collapsed, potentially due to climate change in the Himalayan mountains caused by global warming.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.