Nepalese police personnel put on protective body suits and gloves before a mass burial for flood victims in the Devghat jungle in Chitwan district, Nepal, on Monday. Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA
Sept. 1 (UPI) — The death toll from a flash flood that hit northeastern Nepal nearly a week ago continued to rise on Tuesday to more than 1,000, officials said, as rescuers race to find thousands still missing.
As of 9 a.m. local time, 987 deaths have been recorded, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said in an update. Combined with the 16 people reportedly killed in China from the flood, the number of dead is 1,003.
Although nearly 12,000 people have been rescued since the flood hit near the Nepali-Tibet border Wednesday morning, causing widespread destruction and devastation, thousands remain unaccounted for.
According to the disaster management authority, nearly 4,000 people were still missing as of Tuesday morning, including 583 foreign nationals. The Department of Tourism, in a statement from Monday night, said among the known missing foreign nationals, 64 were American.
The authority also stated that of the 279 people injured, 168 have been discharged from hospitals.
This is a developing story.
