Rescuers dig into tunnel as missing toll from Nepal, China flood tops 3,000
Rescuers in Nepal and China battled Sunday through leg-sucking mud and the threat of rising rivers and a newly formed lake to search for thousands missing after a deadly wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayas, engulfing entire villages.
Latest figures from both countries put the number of missing at 3,044 with a further 750 confirmed deaths -- and reports of some bodies possibly swept downstream as far away as India.
The disaster, which struck the China-Nepal border Wednesday morning, was caused by a glacial collapse, sending a wall of water and debris downstream, the US Geological Survey said.
Chinese rescuers near the Tibet border port that was hit by a deadly mudslide were "moved to a safe location" Sunday, after a new lake was formed by a landslide, state media reported.
Nepali army troops and engineers were working on Sunday to rescue workers believed trapped in a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site after they successfully inserted a pipe into the passage.
They have "started sending air through the small opening", Nepali Home Minister Sudan Gurung said in a statement.
But efforts were hampered on Sunday by rain and rising river waters, with Nepal's disaster authorities urging rescue teams to "exercise caution".
In an area home to vast energy infrastructure projects, Nepal's disaster authority listed 933 hydropower workers among the missing.
China's state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday that experts had said "a glacier on the southern slope of Lirung Peak in Nepal" fractured, triggering an ice-rock avalanche.
It said the torrent plummeted rapidly, forming a massive debris flow that travelled more than 20 kilometres before crashing into Gyirong Port.
"The sudden glacial collapse and flash flood is a devastating reminder of how fragile these mountain environments can be," UN climate chief Simon Steill said in a statement.
- 'Nothing left' -
Survivors face an agonising wait to learn the fate of missing relatives and the prospect of rebuilding their lives from nothing.
"All the settlements near the river were swept away," Buddhi Ram Dangol told AFP in Nepal's Nuwakot district.
"There is nothing left."
At an army base serving as a rescue hub in Bidur, relatives crowded around lists of rescued people pasted on a wall.
"I have come here looking for my son," said Kalka Sharda, scanning the list in desperation.
On Sunday Nepal's disaster authority said 589 foreigners, including trekkers and Hindu pilgrims to Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash, were unaccounted for.
The Isha Foundation, led by Indian guru Sadhguru, said in an Instagram post on Saturday that 80 members had been on a group trip in the area.
"At this time, there seems to be no encouraging indications of survivors at the immigration office area," the post said.
- 'Enormous' trauma -
The United States and Canada said they would provide $3.6 million each in humanitarian aid to Nepal.
The UK has offered $6.8 million, while the UN released $2.5 million in emergency funding.
The European Union on Friday promised $2.3 milllion, while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it had allocated more than $1 million and launched an emergency appeal for $31 million.
Nepal's economy is already under pressure, with limited resources to respond to a disaster of this scale and Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal saying the reconstruction bill could run into "billions of dollars".
He appealed for specialised assistance, including heavy-lift drones and technology to help locate people who are trapped.
Khanal also called for forensic testing kits to identify bodies and freezer units to store them, saying bodies that have been in water could decompose at a faster rate.
The deluge of ice and mud caused huge lakes, and one of these formations has become a risk of further floods.
The Chinese and Nepali foreign ministers spoke Saturday and discussed sharing satellite and hydrological data, both sides said.
In Tibet, where Chinese authorities are the only source of information, rescue operations were temporarily paused at the hardest-hit area of Gyirong because of the risk of more flooding from a newly formed lake.
But state broadcaster CCTV said late Saturday that the lake was "discharging naturally" and had been "essentially drained", citing China's ministry of water resources.
A total of 2,141 rescuers were near the Gyirong site, the Xinhua state news agency reported, including the more than 500 in the worst-hit area.
- Pilgrimage route -
Nepal reported a death toll of 734 people on Sunday.
There are 2,498 people, including hundreds of foreigners, who are out of contact in the country.
Across the border in Tibet 16 people died and 546 remain missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Authorities also said they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from Tibet.
In India, officials said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.
burs-pjm-acb/ane/fox
(L.Svenson--DTZ)
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