Three days have passed since the last reported live rescue from Nepal's flood-hit hydropower belt, where mud-filled tunnels remain the focus of hope for hundreds still missing. Nepal's national disaster risk reduction and management authority said in its 7pm update Thursday that 1,259 bodies had been recovered and 5,083 people remained missing. Across the border, China reported 21 deaths and 541 missing in Tibet, bringing the official two-country count to 1,280 dead and 5,624 missing.

Experts fear the final toll could surpass the nearly 8,800 people killed in the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. The last reported rescues from the hydropower belt came on Aug 31.