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Devastating floods near the border with China killed at least 781 people in Nepal, its disaster authority said on Sunday, with 2,502 people missing as rescue efforts continued for a fifth day.
Chinese state media earlier confirmed 16 dead in Tibet and 546 people missing following Wednesday’s disaster, taking the overall toll to 797 dead and 3,048 unaccounted for.
Nepal’s missing list includes 592 foreigners unaccounted for. It also includes 933 workers on hydropower projects along the river which the torrent crashed through, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Saturday said 275 Indians and 128 people of Indian origin remained missing or non-contactable, while 108 others were rescued following the flash floods
According to preliminary data released by Nepal's education ministry, the missing people include 238 students and 18 teachers from different schools in three flood-affected districts.
Bodies continued to be recovered in the Himalayan nation after the flash floods as search and rescue operations pressed ahead amid intermittent rain and rising water levels.
Till Sunday evening, 264 bodies were recovered from Chitawan district alone, followed by 194 in Nawalparasi East, 100 from Nawalparasi West. More bodies were recovered from five other districts - Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Tanahu and Rasuwa, officials said.
In Nepal's hospitals, which have been witnessing major crowds of people looking for their missing relatives, the focus is increasingly shifting towards identifying the dead.
Photographs have been pasted outside hospital walls, where huge gatherings could be seen scanning them with attention.
However, of the bodies recovered so far, only 17 have been identified, police said, with the condition of many making identification difficult.
"Only 17 bodies have been identified so far as most of the bodies are either in a dilapidated state or amputated," said Rajendra Prasad Dhamala, spokesperson for the Bagmati Province Police Office.
Dhamala said 96 bodies had so far been buried after completing the necessary legal procedures. DNA samples were collected from the bodies before burial and preserved in designated places in accordance with existing regulations, he said.
The identified bodies are being handed over to their families after completion of the verification process, Dhamala added.
Nepal's Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai also said at a press briefing on Sunday that the mortal remains of victims who could not be identified, including those that were unrecognisable, amputated or decomposed due to prolonged exposure to water, had been buried following "standard and accepted protocols".
"Medical teams take DNA samples from every victim prior to the burial so that families can match records later, and will be allowed to exhume for necessary rituals," Rai said.
He further said an 18-member team of forensic experts from India specialising in DNA analysis had arrived in Nepal and that coordination between the two countries was continuing. History
The disaster also left 16 dead and 546 people missing on the Chinese side, where rescue operations continue at full pace. The missing in Tibet included 261 foreigners from 23 countries, including 49 Indians.
Fears of fresh flooding in Nepal were triggered after a lake formed on the Chinese side following the August 26 Himalayan glacier collapse. However, on Saturday, the threat appeared to recede as the barrier lake's size began decreasing, according to Chinese media reports.
On Sunday, fresh reports said a landslide near the natural dam had led to the formation of another "dam lake", prompting rescue personnel to evacuate the area.
Meanwhile, Nepal's meteorology department on Saturday warned of fresh rainfall and thunderstorms in the country's flash flood-affected areas.