Nepal flash floods: Government names 537 missing foreign nationals, including 178 Indians, as death toll reaches 475

The Nepali government has released a list of 537 foreign nationals whose whereabouts remain unknown after devastating floods and landslides struck the country on Wednesday, according to a report by BBC.

The list includes 178 Indian nationals, along with dozens of Americans, Ukrainians, Malaysians, Australians and Britons.

The list carries the names, dates of birth and nationalities of the foreign nationals who have been out of contact since the disaster.

Indians account for the largest group, with 178 names on the list. It also includes 65 Americans, 53 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 33 Australians and 33 nationals from the United Kingdom.

check the full list here

The development comes as search and rescue operations continue across Nepal, with the death toll from the floods reaching 475, according to Nepal Police.

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900 people rescued, including 119 foreign nationals

Nepal's army says 900 people have been rescued from some of the worst-hit areas, including the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.

Among those rescued were 119 foreign nationals, including 92 Indians.

The army said all 900 people rescued were injured and were receiving treatment in hospitals.

Brigadier General Rajaram Basnet, an army spokesman, said rain and unpredictable weather were making rescue operations increasingly difficult.

"But we're trying to... intensify the rescue operations, in close coordination with all stakeholders," Basnet said.

Asked about the scale of the tragedy, he said: "I haven't seen this kind of disaster in my life."

Death toll reaches 475

Nepal Police said that as of 09:00 local time on Friday, 475 people had died following Wednesday's floods.

Search and rescue operations are continuing, while authorities are also working to remove roadblocks from affected areas.

Bodies have been recovered from some of the worst-hit districts, including Rasuwa and Nuwakot. A large number have also been found in Chitwan district, through which the Trishuli river flows before joining the Seti Gandaki river.

Fresh flood threat near Nepal-Tibet border

While rescuers continue their search, authorities are also dealing with the threat of another flood.

A barrier lake formed after a landslide near the Nepal-Tibet border has raised concerns that rising water could trigger further flooding.

Chinese state media reported that an "overflow has occurred" from the lake, prompting officials to temporarily suspend rescue operations in the area.

Later, Chinese state media said the overflow had stopped and water levels had dropped slightly. Rescue operations on the Tibet side subsequently resumed.

CCTV reported that rescue operations were "continuing as normal".

Chinese authorities are installing CCTV cameras around the lake to monitor the situation more closely.

The lake is located around 10km from Gyirong port and holds more than two million cubic metres of water, according to Chinese state television.

Nepal Police had earlier warned that a water dam had been "breached on the Tibetan side" and urged locals, rescuers and security forces to move to safe locations and remain alert.

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Hundreds remain missing

More than 48 hours after the disaster, search teams are still looking for hundreds of people missing across the affected areas.

On the Tibetan side, three people have been confirmed dead and 558 remain missing, according to figures cited by Chinese authorities. China has also said that 555 tourists were evacuated, reported BBC.

It is unclear whether the figures reported by Nepal and China overlap.

In Trishuli, the Nepal Army has deployed two helicopters to search for people missing inside a hydropower tunnel. The exact number of people missing at the site remains unclear.

Each helicopter can carry up to 25 people. Several people were rescued from the site on Thursday, including labourers and people living in nearby areas.

Families desperately wait for news

The disaster has left families in India and other countries anxiously waiting for information about relatives who travelled to Nepal.

Among them is 51-year-old Neetu Goyal Tiwari, a British citizen who has been missing since the floods struck.

Tiwari travelled from London to Delhi before heading to Kathmandu on 14 August with a group from the spiritual organisation Isha Foundation.

Her family said the last information they received was that she was at the immigration office in Gyirong.

Tiwari was expected to return to India on Thursday and meet her brother and parents.

Her brother Naresh Goyal told the BBC, "Please help us find her."

The family said it has contacted helplines provided by the Indian government and the British Embassy in Kathmandu.

At Trishuli, relatives of missing people have gathered at rescue camps, waiting for news. Some have been crowding around lists of people who have been found, while helicopters continue to bring survivors to army facilities.

Roads, bridges damaged in floods

The disaster has also caused extensive damage to Nepal's infrastructure.

The country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority says 80 bridges and 40km of paved roads have been damaged by the floods.

The affected region lies along the border with China, meaning several of the damaged roads and bridges were important routes for the movement of goods between Nepal and its second-largest trading partner.

The destruction adds to the challenges facing Nepal's new government, which was already dealing with an economy heavily reliant on foreign aid, remittances from Nepalis working abroad and imports from China and India.

For now, rescue teams are racing against difficult weather conditions to locate those still missing, while authorities remain on alert over the possibility of another flood from the barrier lake near the border.

The disaster began on the morning of August 26, when a massive section of glacier and rock collapsed in the high Himalayas near the Nepal-Tibet border.

The collapse sent a huge mass of ice, rock and debris into the Lhende Khola, a tributary linked to the Bhote Koshi river system. The sudden surge then raced downstream, carrying enormous amounts of mud and debris and causing destructive flooding along the river corridor.

The flood swept through settlements in Rasuwa and Nuwakot, destroying homes, roads, bridges and power infrastructure. The damage also extended to the Gyirong border area, a key route for trade and travel between Nepal and Tibet.