Rescue teams in Nepal and China continued their search on Saturday for thousands of people still missing after a massive wall of water, ice and debris swept through parts of the Himalayan region, destroying villages and leaving widespread devastation.
The number of people reported missing in Nepal and Tibet has risen to nearly 3,000, according to the latest figures released by authorities in both countries. At least 633 people have been confirmed dead, while concerns are growing that some victims may have been carried downstream into India.
The disaster struck on Wednesday, affecting communities along the river valleys and areas hosting major hydropower projects.
In Nepal, the disaster management authorities added 933 hydropower workers to the list of missing persons. The list also includes trekkers, pilgrims and other travellers who were in the affected areas, including people heading towards Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.
For survivors, the scale of the destruction has left many with little more than the clothes they escaped in, while families continue to wait for information about relatives who remain unaccounted for.
“All the settlements near the river were swept away. There is nothing left,” a survivor, Buddhi Dangol, told AFP.
Samjhana Thing, whose brother has been missing since the disaster, said the family had received no information about his whereabouts.
“We don’t know anything. Hopefully he is in a safe place,” she said.
Thousands affected
The International Red Cross said the disaster had caused enormous trauma across the affected communities, with as many as 93,000 people believed to have been affected. It warned that the number of fatalities could increase as rescue teams gain access to more areas.
Emergency workers have been moving into devastated communities to search for survivors, but damaged roads and infrastructure have made access difficult. Supplies of food and drinking water are also becoming increasingly limited in some locations.
The rescue operation has been further complicated by the possibility of additional flooding.
The floods caused large quantities of ice, mud and debris to accumulate in some areas, creating lakes that could pose fresh risks to people living or working downstream. One such formation has also raised concerns for rescue teams operating in the affected region.
Nepalese police on Saturday advised rescuers to move to safer locations after receiving reports that another water barrier had burst on the Tibetan side of the border.
In Tibet, Chinese authorities temporarily suspended rescue operations in the worst-hit area of Gyirong because of fears of further flooding. The authorities later said the situation had improved.
China’s state news agency, Xinhua, reported early Saturday that two villagers had been rescued from the affected area.
Workers trapped at hydropower project
On the Nepalese side, soldiers were searching for workers trapped inside tunnels at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project.
The Nepal Army said two helicopters had been deployed to support the operation, although rescuers were facing difficulties locating the tunnel entrances because of the destruction caused by the floods.
Army spokesman Raja Basnet told AFP that rescuers were struggling to identify the entry points to the tunnels.
Workers rescued from other hydropower projects along the Trishuli Valley described how quickly the floodwaters overwhelmed the area.
Buddha Tamang, who was working at a dam when the disaster struck, said he survived because he was inside a tunnel.
“The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away,” Tamang told AFP.
He was rescued by air on Thursday after spending more than 24 hours stranded at the site.
Nepal reported 626 deaths on Saturday, while 2,426 people, including hundreds of foreign nationals, remained out of contact.
Across the border in Tibet, seven people had died and another 554 were still missing, according to Xinhua.
Chinese authorities said they had also evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from affected parts of Tibet.
Bodies recovered in India
The disaster has also affected areas downstream in India.
Indian authorities said seven bodies had been recovered from rivers flowing from Nepal. The victims were believed to have been swept away by the floodwaters from the disaster zone.
The discovery has raised concerns that the final death toll could increase as search teams continue checking rivers and downstream communities.
Pilgrims among those missing
The disaster also struck people travelling along the pilgrimage route to Mount Kailash, a sacred site for Hindus and other religious communities.
Among those caught in the disaster was Sivaranjani Muthunathan, who was travelling by bus with 56 other people towards the Chinese border when their vehicle was forced to stop.
At first, the group believed they had encountered a traffic jam. The situation quickly changed as fog, smoke and floodwaters surrounded them.
“There was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” the 46-year-old told AFP.
Muthunathan recorded a video showing the torrent moving towards the vehicle. Several vehicles around them were swept away or buried beneath mud.
She said the passengers eventually escaped through the driver’s side of the bus before scrambling up a nearby hill to safety.
Rescue operations are continuing across the affected areas as authorities work to reach isolated communities, recover bodies and establish the whereabouts of those still missing.
