Missing tourists make contact as Nepal flood death toll tops 1,100

Tourists previously reported missing in Nepal have made contact with authorities, officials said, as families of locals still unaccounted for after last week’s catastrophic floods held symbolic funerals for their loved ones.

Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said 324 foreign nationals have been rescued, while another 590 from 39 countries remain missing after the August 26 disaster that killed at least 1,118 people and left more than 3,900 missing.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday that the number of Australians missing had fallen from 43 to 38 after five were confirmed safe overnight.

“Amidst all of this tragedy, we are seeing some positive news. Today, another five Australians have been confirmed safe,” he told reporters in Palau, where he is attending a regional summit.

“We hope, of course, for positive news further, and we’re doing everything we can to work with authorities,” he added.

Sunil Sharma, a spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Board, said at least five tourists who had been reported missing had contacted authorities by email or telephone in recent days.

It is thought the disaster happened when a glacial collapse in the Himalayas sent rock, ice and meltwater into valleys below, triggering powerful floods downstream.

The surge entered rivers flowing through Tibet and Nepal, causing them to rise rapidly. Floodwaters swept away homes, buildings, roads and bridges, carrying mud and rocks downstream.

Some families in Nuwakot, one of Nepal’s worst-affected districts, have held symbolic funerals for relatives still missing, hoping to free their souls after they were presumed dead.

In Hindu tradition, cremation is an important final rite, and for some families, performing the ceremony even without the bodies of their loved ones provides a sense of spiritual release.

Along the banks of the Trishuli River, a priest placed straw effigies representing the missing family members and covered them with small piles of wood before setting them alight. The symbolic funeral pyres were surrounded by offerings to Hindu deities as relatives gathered to perform the final rites.

Authorities in Nepal have been burying recovered bodies in temporary graves until they can be identified. They are preserving DNA samples, photographing distinguishing facial features and recording other identifying details to help match the remains with missing people and eventually return them to their families.

On the Chinese side, rescue crews completed a makeshift road to the disaster site at Gyirong Port on the Nepal border, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.

Crews have been clearing access for heavy machinery to be used in the search at the border crossing complex which was washed away by the floods. The road leading to the crossing was destroyed and buried under water, mud and rocks.

At least 21 people have been killed and 541 remain missing in China, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

Some flood survivors are fleeing the devastation to seek shelter in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

Around 400 survivors, mostly from the town of Timure, about 65 miles west of Kathmandu, have been staying at the Yellow Gumba monastery. The shelter is being organised by locals and relatives, with relief supplies donated by individuals and charity organisations.