Missing count in Nepal-China floods surpasses 2,400

Rescue teams in Nepal and China continued their desperate search Saturday for thousands of people still missing days after a deadly, tsunami-like surge of water, ice and debris tore through the Himalayan region, sweeping away entire villages.

The number of missing people climbed above 2,400 on Friday, while emergency crews reported recovering 586 bodies. Some victims were carried downstream into India.

In Nepal, where the disaster struck an area dotted with major hydropower projects, the disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to the missing persons list. The list also includes trekkers, pilgrims and others travelling toward Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.

Survivors described losing everything and facing an agonising wait for news of missing relatives, while many now confront the daunting task of rebuilding their lives from scratch.

“All the settlements near the river were swept away. There is nothing left,” survivor Buddhi Ram Dangol told AFP.

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.

‘Enormous’ trauma

The scale of Wednesday’s catastrophe has caused “enormous” trauma, with as many as 93,000 people potentially affected, according to the Red Cross. Officials warned that the death toll could rise further as emergency crews continue searching devastated areas where food and drinking water supplies are rapidly running low.

The rescue operation has also been complicated by the threat of additional flooding.

The massive flow of ice, mud and water created huge lakes in several locations, with one posing a direct danger to rescuers searching for survivors.

Nepali police ordered rescue personnel to “immediately move to a safe location” after receiving reports that “a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side”.

In Tibet, where Chinese authorities have restricted access for foreign journalists, Beijing temporarily halted rescue operations in the worst-hit area of Gyirong because of fears of renewed flooding. Authorities later said the danger had eased.

China’s state news agency Xinhua reported early Saturday that two villagers had been rescued from the area.

‘All swept away’

On the Nepali side, the military was working to rescue people trapped inside a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project.

“Two helicopters have been dispatched, but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.

He said around 350 workers and residents had been rescued from the site, while efforts were continuing to reach more than 100 people believed to be trapped.

Workers rescued from other hydropower projects along the Trishuli valley recalled how quickly the disaster unfolded.

Buddha Tamang said he survived because he was inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked when the flood struck.

“The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away,” Tamang told AFP after being airlifted to safety on Thursday following more than 24 hours stranded at the site.

Nepal reported 579 deaths on Friday. The disaster authority said 1,924 people, including 517 foreigners, remained unaccounted for, up from a previous missing figure of 977.

In neighbouring India, authorities recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing down from Nepal, which they believe were victims of the floods.

Across the border in Tibet, Xinhua reported that seven people had died and 554 remained missing. Authorities said they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from affected areas.

Pilgrims among the missing

Among those feared missing are scores of Hindu pilgrims from around the world who were travelling toward Mount Kailash in Tibet.

Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling by bus with 56 others toward the Chinese border when they became trapped in what initially appeared to be a traffic jam.

“Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” the 46-year-old told AFP on Friday, showing footage she had recorded on her phone of the torrent rushing toward them.

Vehicles around them were swept away or buried beneath mud.

“One by one, we also climbed out through the driver's side,” she said, before scrambling up a nearby hill to escape the floodwaters.