Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has confirmed that one of the 30 Canadian citizens and permanent residents reported missing after devastating flash floods in Nepal has been found alive, though hopes are fading for the remaining 29.
The individual had been out of contact due to widespread communication outages in the disaster zone but managed to establish contact with officials on Tuesday.
The catastrophic flooding struck the Himalayan border region between Nepal and China on August 26, triggered when a glacier collapsed and unleashed torrents of water through the mountainous terrain. At least 1,118 people have been confirmed dead, with more than 3,900 still missing, according to Nepalese authorities.
Ottawa has said the number of unaccounted Canadians could shift as rescue teams work through remote areas where landslides and destroyed roads have made access nearly impossible.
Search teams deploy drones and dogs as window narrows
Rescuers are also racing against time to reach hundreds of hydropower workers trapped in tunnels throughout the affected region.
Global Affairs Canada said it has deployed 10 government officials to Nepal to support Canadians affected by the flooding and assist in locating the missing. Search teams in both China and Nepal are using a range of specialised tools, including drones, helicopters, and search dogs, along with other advanced equipment to scour the ground.
Nepal’s Foreign Ministry reported that 324 foreign nationals have been rescued, while roughly 590 people from 39 countries remain unaccounted for.
Calls mount for stronger international response
In Kathmandu, the grim reality of identification efforts has led police to bury dozens of unrecognised bodies in mass trenches, simply because there are too many victims to store or examine individually.
Families of those still missing are growing increasingly frustrated with the pace of international response. One woman, Patel, said Global Affairs notified her family about the deployment of the government team, but the news offered little comfort.
“There should be a global effort, everyone work together to try to bring our family members home,” she said.
On Tuesday, Anand spoke directly with Nepal’s foreign minister, extending condolences on behalf of Canada and expressing the government’s solidarity with those affected.
Symbolic farewells along the swollen Trishuli
The human toll of the disaster has been most visible along the banks of the swollen Trishuli River, where families whose relatives remain missing, and are presumed dead, have gathered to perform symbolic last rites.
Some relatives, still clinging to hope, have travelled to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, where photographs of missing and deceased people now cover the walls outside the morgue. One man was seen pressing pictures of his missing relative among the growing collage of faces.
The massive scale of destruction has hampered every stage of the emergency response, with remote villages cut off and the full extent of the devastation still unfolding nearly a week after the glacier collapse.
Why it Matters
This disaster has exposed the limits of international rescue operations when catastrophic natural events collide with extreme geography and fragile infrastructure. For the families holding vigil in Kathmandu and in Canadian cities alike, every passing day narrows the already slim chance of bringing loved ones home. The tragedy also raises urgent questions about climate vulnerability in the Himalayan region, where glacial lake outbursts, a phenomenon linked to warming temperatures, are becoming an increasingly devastating force for communities downstream.
