Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) has confirmed that 538 bodies have now been found as rescue and recovery operations continue.
The agency also updated its missing toll, stating that 977 people remain unaccounted for, which includes 517 foreign nationals.
Earlier, the Nepal police stated that 489 people were confirmed to have died as a result of Wednesday’s floods.
Both organisations have been providing separate updates on the rescue operation as it develops.
Brigadier General Rajaram Basnet, a spokesman for the army, spoke at a helicopter landing field outside an army barracks.
Basnet said all 900 rescued people were injured and receiving treatment in hospital, without providing further details about their condition.
He acknowledged that rain and unpredictable weather had made rescue operations increasingly challenging.
“But we’re trying to… intensify the rescue operations, in close coordination with all stakeholders,” Basnet said.
Asked about the scale of the disaster, he said: “I haven’t seen this kind of disaster in my life.”
