Missing in Nepal-China Border Floods Rise to 4,500
The number of people missing after the devastating flood on the Nepal-China border has risen to about 4,500, while the death toll has climbed above 900. Rescue teams on Monday pressed on for a sixth straight day, trying to reach survivors amid mud and debris.
The focus of the rescue operation is now on freeing about 100 hydropower project workers trapped inside several sealed tunnels in Nepal. Rescue crews are using digging and blasting in an effort to reach them, but so far only three bodies have been recovered from two tunnels.
The disaster began last Wednesday after a glacier collapsed on the border between Nepal and Tibet in China. According to reports, the tragedy has left at least 939 people dead in Nepal and Tibet, and 17 more bodies have been found in downstream rivers in India.
Nepal’s interior ministry said 20,600 personnel have been mobilized to respond to the disaster and more than 3,100 people have been rescued. Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah called the event “unimaginable and heartbreaking.”
Because mortuaries are full, hundreds of bodies are being buried in mass graves after DNA sampling. Among the missing are 592 foreign nationals, some of them said to be tourists and pilgrims to Mount Kailash.
Chinese officials in Tibet have reported 16 deaths and 546 missing. At the same time, the destruction of roads, bridges and power plants has increased the relief needs of tens of thousands of affected people, and the Red Cross says about 90,000 people have been affected by the flood and need assistance.
The Himalayan mountains along the Nepal-Tibet border are among the areas most vulnerable to melting glaciers. In the current report, climate change and the rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers are identified as the main causes of the flood.
