Kathmandu, Aug 27. (dpa/GNA) – More than 1,300 people are missing after a devastating flash flood, struck the border region between Nepal and China, with at least 177 people killed in Nepal alone, authorities said on Thursday.
In Nepal alone, the number of missing people has risen to 826, including nearly 580 tourists, according to the country’s disaster management authority. Many of the dead were found several kilometres downstream near the border with India, apparently swept far from where the floods struck.
A police spokesman told dpa that in some cases, only body parts had been recovered. The number of people missing on the Chinese side has more than doubled to over 550, including 260 foreigners, Chinese state television reported. Chinese state media have so far reported three deaths in the affected region in Tibet.
Images and videos from the Himalayan region showed extensive destruction, and the death toll is expected to rise further. More than 7,400 rescuers were deployed in Nepal, according to authorities, while nearly 240 people have so far been rescued alive by helicopter.
The head of Nepal’s tourist police, Bishow Raj Adhikari, told dpa that hundreds of tourists were currently unreachable. Trekking agencies said eight Germans were among them. Most of the missing were Indians, Adhikari said, with many also from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Rescue teams continued searching for missing people a day after the disaster. A further 111 professional fire service rescuers arrived at Tingri airport in south-western Tibet before travelling to the disaster zone, Chinese state television reported.
Thick mud around the badly flooded Gyirong border crossing was hampering operations, making roads impassable for heavy equipment and large vehicles, and causing some communications networks to fail.
The flooding on Wednesday sent huge amounts of mud and rock through the mountainous region along the Bhotekoshi river, sweeping away bridges, damaging dams and burying homes. The full fate of many Nepalese and foreign tourists remained unclear.
The German Foreign Office said on Wednesday, that it had no information about any German nationals among those affected. At least 34 Australians were also reported missing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said authorities were trying to confirm the wellbeing of Australians in the region, adding that gathering information was difficult because Nepal lacked the resources Australia would have for such a disaster.
The United States pledged $500,000 in disaster aid, including emergency shelters, clean water and other supplies. Germany, the United Nations and the European Union also offered support.
European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen said the Copernicus Earth observation service had been activated to map affected areas.
The cause of the flood is still under investigation. Nepal’s disaster authority said initial analysis of satellite images suggested a glacial avalanche may have blocked a tributary of the Bhotekoshi river, the Kathmandu Post reported. This could have created a temporary lake that later overflowed, sending a flood wave of water, ice and debris downstream through the Himalayan country.
The US Geological Survey said, a landslide had caused tremors measuring 5.2 in the border region. Further analysis suggested the seismic energy had instead been generated by a glacier collapse and debris flow.
GNA