The death toll from last week’s catastrophic floods in Nepal and Tibet has reached 750, with more than 3,000 people still missing as heavy rain and rising river levels force rescue teams to repeatedly suspend operations.
Authorities said 734 people had died in Nepal, while 2,498 remained missing and 7,514 had been rescued. In China’s Tibet region, 16 people had died in Gyirong County and another 546 were missing.
Two Irish citizens, 46-year-old Santosh Sahu and 18-year-old Spandan Sahu, are among those missing, according to Nepal’s Tourism Department.
Rescue operations have faced repeated interruptions since Friday because of poor weather and fears of further flooding. A lake formed near the Nepal-Tibet border after a mudslide linked to Wednesday’s glacier collapse began overflowing into rivers in Nepal, creating additional risks for rescuers.
Water levels in the Trishuli River rose following fresh rainfall, prompting residents and emergency workers to move to higher ground. Authorities are also concerned about a new natural dam created by another landslide downstream from the original lake.
The Red Cross estimates that more than 90,000 people may have been affected by the disaster.
Nepal’s rescue effort is now concentrating on hundreds of people believed to be trapped inside tunnels at hydropower projects. A huge torrent carrying ice, rocks, mud and debris swept through Himalayan valleys, destroying infrastructure and cutting off communities.
China said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were missing on the Tibetan side. They included 104 Nepalis, 49 Indians, 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 Britons.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the disaster in a telephone call with his Nepalese counterpart as one of the most serious cross-border disasters in the region in recent years. He said rescue operations were facing exceptional difficulty and complexity.
Nepal has said it does not require foreign assistance for general search and rescue operations, but officials have requested specialist support for tunnel rescues, DNA testing, forensic identification and refrigerated storage of bodies.
Indian and Chinese experts are helping with efforts to reach people trapped in tunnels.
China has deployed more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan, about €28.2 million, for relief efforts. It is also supplying emergency aid, equipment, satellite information and hydrological data.
Chinese authorities have linked the disaster to long-term climate change and glacier instability. State broadcaster CCTV reported that scientists found the mudslide travelled from the Nepalese side to the Gyirong border crossing within six to seven minutes.
Drones, helicopters and life-detection equipment are being used to search for survivors as authorities continue to warn that unstable terrain, rain and rising rivers could trigger further flooding.
