More than 1,000 missing in Nepal flash flood

More than 1,000 people are missing there and in neighboring China after a wall of ice, mud, and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering a catastrophic flash flood on Wednesday (27 August).

Authorities in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys.

Local media put the death toll at 359, with dozens of bodies swept into the plains, from where they were being recovered.

Nepal's Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said the focus remained on finding survivors.

Rescue teams located 100 missing Indian visitors, mostly pilgrims, and 25 Chinese workers in the worst-hit region around Trishuli.

More than 650 foreigners were still unaccounted for, while Nepali authorities were yet to determine the number of locals missing.

The Red Cross said entire villages had been destroyed, and impassable roads and bridges had left communities cut off.

The full scale of the disaster remains unclear, it added.

The tally of missing in Tibet's Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals. China said the death toll stayed at three.

Meanwhile, Nepal's disaster authority has warned that a lake formed by a blockage in the river at the site of Wednesday's flood is rising and at risk of bursting. Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments.

Source: Reuters