DOMINANT ANGLE
Kuala Lumpur is assessing this new toll in light of an unresolved drama: 55 Malaysians remain missing since the Nepalese floods of August 26, a month later.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
55 people remain missing since the glacial floods of August 26 in Nepal, a month after the disaster.
- 02
Families gathered at Wisma Putra on September 27 called on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for a special financial moratorium for the 55 missing people, several of whom were breadwinners.
- 03
A request was made to extend the search from Rasuwagadhi to Syabrubesi, but Nepal only authorized the SMART team to search areas C and D, between Timure and Syabrubesi.
ANALYSIS
Kuala Lumpur, September 28, 2026. The latest toll from the floods in India and Nepal, where at least 70 people died on Sunday, resonates in Malaysia as a painful reminder: a month after the landslides and glacial floods on August 26 in Nepal, which killed over 1,450 people, 55 Malaysians remain missing. On September 27, over a hundred relatives gathered for nearly four hours at Wisma Putra, the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Putrajaya, for a new information session with the Royal Police (PDRM), the Department of Social Welfare, the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), and the Department of Chemistry, in charge of DNA analysis.
The spokesperson for Malaysia Solidarity: Families in Hope (MASFIH), Dr. Manivannan Rethinam, indicated that the Nepalese authorities are now considering ending search and rescue operations (SAR) to move on to a body recovery phase. The families, he said, "are starting to accept all possibilities" after 33 days without news. The Malaysian government had requested to extend the search perimeter in the Rasuwagadhi area, on the Tibetan border, to Syabrubesi; Nepal only authorized the Malaysian SMART team to search areas C and D, between Timure and Syabrubesi, excluding Rasuwagadhi, a sector considered the most likely by the families.
Beyond the anguish of waiting, the relatives are now demanding a special financial moratorium from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, covering the commitments of the 55 missing people, several of whom were the main breadwinners of their households: frozen bank accounts, suspended insurance, ongoing loans. A measure deemed necessary "to help families cope until the death certificates are issued." Among the testimonies collected, that of a son, S. Sankara, who lost his mother K. Kalaimathi, who had gone to Nepal for a religious ritual, or that of Adura Masood, who still has no news of her husband, Dr. Mohd Padzil Daros.
The Malaysian press does not link this case to the new torrential rains reported in India and in the Nepalese districts of Manang, Mustang, or Baglung: it remains focused on the fate of its own citizens, a month after a tragedy that Kuala Lumpur has yet to close.
SOURCES (2)
- The Sun MYMEDIUM
- Nepal floods: Families of 55 missing Malaysians seek PM's intervention, moratorium
- Nepal floods: Families begin to accept, SAR expected to be terminated
- Nepal floods: 33 days on, families of 55 missing Malaysians seek clarity
- Nepal floods: Malaysia requests search beyond Rasuwagadhi, but Nepal's approval limited — Family spokesman
- The VibesMEDIUM
