Rescuers in Nepal and China are battling to locate nearly 3,000 people still missing after a deadly tsunami-like wall of water, mud and debris swept through the Himalayan region, destroying villages and leaving hundreds dead.
According to figures released by authorities in both countries on Saturday, at least 633 people have died, while thousands remain unaccounted for following Wednesday’s catastrophic flooding.
The disaster has also raised fears that some victims may have been swept downstream into India, where authorities have recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal.
On the Nepalese side, the country’s disaster management authority added 933 hydropower workers to its missing persons list, alongside trekkers, residents and pilgrims travelling to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.
Nepal reported 626 deaths and said 2,426 people, including hundreds of foreign nationals, remained out of contact.
Across the border in Tibet, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that seven people had died while 554 others remained missing.
Chinese authorities also said they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from affected parts of Tibet.
The scale of the destruction has left survivors struggling to come to terms with the loss of their homes, livelihoods and loved ones.
“All the settlements near the river were swept away. There is nothing left,” a survivor, Buddhi Dangol, told AFP.
Another survivor, Samjhana Thing, said she had spent three days waiting for information about her missing brother.
“We don’t know anything. Hopefully he is in a safe place,” she said.
The International Red Cross said the psychological and humanitarian impact of the disaster had been “enormous”, warning that as many as 93,000 people could have been affected.
The death toll is also expected to rise as rescuers reach remote communities and search through areas buried under mud and debris.
Emergency teams have been racing against time to rescue survivors, with food and clean water supplies reportedly running low in some affected communities.
The rescue operation has also been complicated by fears of additional flooding.
The huge volume of ice, water and mud that swept through the region has created massive temporary lakes, some of which now pose a fresh threat to rescuers and communities.
Nepalese police on Saturday warned emergency personnel to immediately move to safer locations after receiving information that a water dam had burst again on the Tibetan side of the border.
In Tibet, Chinese authorities temporarily suspended rescue operations in the worst-hit area of Gyirong because of the threat of renewed flooding.
Beijing later said the danger had eased.
Xinhua reported early Saturday that two villagers had been rescued from the Gyirong area.
Hundreds trapped at hydropower project.
In Nepal, the military has been searching for workers trapped inside tunnels at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project.
Army spokesman Raja Basnet told AFP that two helicopters had been deployed, but rescuers were facing difficulties locating the tunnel entrances.
“Two helicopters have been dispatched, but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” Basnet said.
He said about 350 workers and residents had been rescued from the site, while efforts were continuing to reach more than 100 people believed to be trapped in the same area.
Workers rescued from other hydropower projects along the Trishuli Valley described the flooding as sudden and devastating.
Buddha Tamang, who worked at one of the dam projects, said he survived because he was inside a tunnel when the flood struck.
“The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away,” Tamang told AFP.
He was airlifted to safety on Thursday after spending more than 24 hours stranded.
Pilgrims among missing.
The disaster has also disrupted a major pilgrimage route to Mount Kailash, with Hindu devotees from several countries among those reported missing.
Sivaranjani Muthunathan, 46, was travelling with 56 other people by bus towards the Chinese border when the group became trapped.
They initially believed they were caught in a traffic jam.
“Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” she told AFP on Friday while showing a video she had recorded on her phone.
The footage showed a torrent of water and debris surging towards the group.
Vehicles around them were swept away or buried beneath mud.
“One by one, we also climbed out through the driver’s side,” Muthunathan said, describing how the passengers scrambled up a nearby hill to escape the floodwaters.
Rescue operations are expected to continue as authorities in Nepal and China work to reach isolated communities and determine the fate of thousands still missing.
The disaster has also raised fears that some victims may have been swept downstream into India, where authorities have recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal.
On the Nepalese side, the country’s disaster management authority added 933 hydropower workers to its missing persons list, alongside trekkers, residents and pilgrims travelling to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.
Nepal reported 626 deaths and said 2,426 people, including hundreds of foreign nationals, remained out of contact.
Across the border in Tibet, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that seven people had died while 554 others remained missing.
Chinese authorities also said they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from affected parts of Tibet.
The trauma of Wednesday’s catastrophe has been “enormous”, and as many as 93,000 people may have been affected, the Red Cross said, with the death toll expected to rise.
Emergency teams had been racing to retrieve survivors from affected zones, where the widespread devastation meant food and water supplies were running out.
Compounding the search for the missing have been fears of further flooding in affected areas.
The deluge of ice and mud caused huge lakes to form, and one of these formations has become a direct threat to emergency workers scouring the region for survivors.
Nepali police urged all rescuers to “immediately move to a safe location”, saying they had received information that “a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side.”
In Tibet, where Chinese authorities are the only source of information, Beijing suspended its rescue operation at the hardest-hit area of Gyirong over the risk of renewed flooding, before saying the threat had eased.
State news agency Xinhua reported early Saturday morning that two villagers had been rescued in the area.
