Nepal flood death toll passes 1,400 a month on as 33 missing Britons are feared swept away

From the Newshound archive · first published 27 September 2026 · last updated 28 September 2026.

A month after a catastrophic glacial collapse on Nepal's northern border sent a 188km/h debris flood through villages, 33 British nationals are among more than 6,000 people still missing and presumed dead. The Nepali government has put reconstruction costs at $4.8 billion — equivalent to 11 per cent of GDP — and ministers are demanding grant-based compensation on grounds of 'climate justice'. Only 112 bodies have so far been formally handed over to families after DNA testing, leaving thousands in limbo.

Pramod Poudel, 34, from Uckfield in East Sussex, travelled to Nepal after losing his wife, mother, brother and uncle to the flood — saying he has had to accept 'they are not there anymore.'

The global Loss and Damage Fund set up to compensate disaster-hit nations has received just $456m in actual payments, against a Nepali recovery bill nearly ten times that figure.

Separate flooding and landslides struck India and Nepal again yesterday, killing 15 people in India and four more in Nepal as rivers continued to rise.