ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will send emergency relief assistance to Nepal later this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday, as the death toll from catastrophic flash floods and landslides in the Himalayan country rose above 1,200.

Sharif announced the planned shipment during a visit to the Nepali embassy in Islamabad, where he signed a condolence book and reiterated Pakistan’s support for rescue and relief operations.

Nepal says 1,204 bodies have been recovered since the Aug. 26 disaster, while around 4,200 people remain missing and nearly 12,000 have been rescued.

“Pakistan would be dispatching emergency relief assistance to Nepal, later this week, to support ongoing rescue and relief operations,” the Pakistani prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Sharif was received at the embassy by Nepal’s ambassador to Pakistan, Rita Dhital, and was accompanied by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, foreign policy aide Tariq Fatemi and Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch.

“In his message, the Prime Minister conveyed Pakistan’s deepest sympathies to the Government and people of Nepal, and to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the tragedy,” the statement said.

Sharif had previously spoken by telephone with Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah and announced emergency assistance as the scale of the disaster was still emerging.

International teams from India, China and South Korea are assisting Nepali forces with rescue operations, while equipment including drones and other rescue materials has been deployed in affected areas.

The floods struck Nepal on Aug. 26 after a massive surge of water, mud and debris swept through areas close to the China border and downstream into the Trishuli and Narayani river systems, affecting several districts and destroying homes, roads, bridges and hydropower facilities. Nepal says the precise cause is still being studied.

Sharif “offered continued support to Nepal and hoped that the resilient people of Nepal would emerge stronger from this tragedy,” his office said.

He also highlighted what his office described as close and longstanding ties between Pakistan and Nepal, saying the two countries would continue to support each other in times of need.

Dhital thanked Sharif for Pakistan’s support and said the gesture would be remembered by the people of Nepal, according to the Pakistani statement.