Modi urges peace in Ukraine and West Asia as Nepal flood toll hits 903

In Bishkek, Narendra Modi urged Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian to back dialogue over war. The diplomacy unfolded as Nepal's catastrophic floods deepened a regional crisis and strained rescue efforts.

In Short

• Modi said India wants to expand and diversify trade with Iran
• Experts traced Nepal's disaster to collapsing ice and rock, not earthquakes
• Rescue teams faced shortages of helicopters, ropes, body bags and equipment

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday used separate meetings in Bishkek to press for peace in two major conflicts, urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to move from "endless war to the end of war" and telling Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that the West Asia crisis must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

At the same time, Nepal continued to battle the aftermath of devastating flash floods, with the death toll rising to 903 and 4,247 people still missing. The disaster also triggered diplomatic, scientific and humanitarian developments, even as rescue teams struggled with equipment shortages and families searched for missing relatives.

In his meeting with Putin, Modi called for an immediate end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said a peaceful resolution was humanity's shared priority. In another meeting, he told Pezeshkian that India wanted to "expand and diversify" the trade basket with Iran in the times to come.

Nepalese authorities said bodies were still being recovered after the floods. Experts said the disaster was caused by a massive fall of ice and rock in the high Himalayas, and not by an earthquake or a glacial lake outburst flood.

China rejected criticism linking its major hydropower projects in Tibet to the August 26 flash flood in Nepal, calling such claims "malicious speculation".

As rescue work continued, Nepal sought more international support, including specialised equipment and technical assistance for tunnel rescue, freezers and forensic work. Officials also said shortages of specialised rescue equipment, body bags, ropes and helicopters were hampering search operations, even as security personnel risked their lives to rescue survivors and recover bodies.

Rescue teams were also trying to trace 933 workers and employees at hydropower project sites in flood-hit areas who have been out of contact since August 26, with many believed to be trapped in tunnels. In one account from Rasuwa, Shiva Giri and six others said they could do little but climb as floodwaters swallowed everything below them, while houses, settlements and structures disappeared as they fled uphill from the Mailung Hydropower Project.

Other survivors also described desperate escapes. In Devighat, Badri Prasad Devkota said he saw a wall of muddy water rushing towards the bus carrying him, his wife and 34 other pilgrims to Gosainkunda in Rasuwa district. Survivors recalled the fear that "we will die here" as the search for the missing continued.

The floods have also made identification of victims harder. At a hospital in Pokhara, three families initially claimed the same body, each believing it belonged to a missing relative.

China announced USD 2.2 million in financial assistance for Nepal's flood victims. Nepal's government said President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang conveyed condolences over the loss of lives and property.

Also in Bishkek, Xi and Putin met and discussed a visa-free regime between China and Russia, besides exchanging views on international and regional issues of common concern.

In Beijing, Xi issued a fresh warning to Communist Party officials, saying power must be matched by responsibility and that those who fail to fulfil their duties must be held accountable, according to state media.

In Washington, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said India's civilisational traditions have always been guided by helping others without discrimination, and said the country had served the world as a 'vishwa guru' and not as a 'super power'.

In the UK, British Indian MP Priti Patel was removed from her role as shadow foreign secretary as Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch began a broad reshuffle of the Conservative Party's top team.

In Pakistan, officials and minority bodies said a Hindu temple more than 100 years old had been demolished in Punjab province, reportedly to merge its land with a madrassa.

Separately, Sadhguru Jagadish Vasudev called for a five-nation Himalayan Board involving India, China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan to improve cooperation in dealing with disasters in the fragile mountain region.

The developments on Monday ranged from diplomacy in Bishkek to the worsening flood crisis in Nepal, alongside political and social updates from China, the UK, Pakistan and the US, with the disaster in Nepal continuing to dominate attention because of the high death toll, thousands missing and the strain on rescue efforts.

With PTI Inputs

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