Nepal holds day of mourning after floods kill more than 1,300 people

Nepal marks a national day of mourning on September 7, 2026, for the victims of the catastrophic August 26 floods that killed over 1,300 people and left thousands missing. As families perform symbolic Hindu funeral rites, international rescue teams continue searching for 900 missing workers at 12 hydropower projects. Meanwhile, grieving relatives protest in Kathmandu, demanding the government expedite search efforts and deploy heavier equipment to locate their loved ones.

Nepal flood death toll

• ▪The Ministry of Home Affairs in Nepal reported that the August 26, 2026 floods killed at least 1,380 people and left more than 5,500 people missing.
• ▪A catastrophic flood on August 26, 2026, triggered by a glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border, killed more than 1,300 people and left approximately 5,000 missing.

Hindu thirteen-day mourning rituals

• ▪In Hindu-majority Nepal, traditional mourning periods last 13 days, during which close family members stay at home and relatives visit to pay their respects.
• ▪On September 7, 2026, the 13th day after the floods, families of missing victims performed symbolic funerals and cremation rituals to achieve spiritual release without the bodies.

National mourning day observance

• ▪Nepal's National Emergency Operation Center stated that no official government programs were organized for the national day of mourning due to ongoing rescue operations and limited resources.
• ▪President Ram Chandra Paudel toured the flood-hit areas of Nepal on September 7, 2026, to survey the damage caused by the disaster.
• ▪The government of Nepal declared September 7, 2026, as an official day of mourning, ordering government offices and foreign missions to lower flags to half-staff.

Hydropower worker rescue operations

• ▪Rescuers pulled two Nepalese workers from a hydropower tunnel on September 4, 2026, and a Chinese national from a tunnel on September 5, 2026.
• ▪Rescue efforts focused on 12 hydropower projects where approximately 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped inside tunnels.
• ▪Specialized rescue teams from India, China, South Korea, and the United States joined the search through debris and tunnels at the affected hydropower projects.

Family protests government response

• ▪Protester Mahesh Prasad Shrestha criticized the government response, stating that authorities only sent a small excavator by helicopter six or seven days after the disaster.
• ▪Family members of missing workers gathered near government offices in Kathmandu on September 7, 2026, to demand that the government speed up search and rescue operations.

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