Rescuers searched for survivors in the debris-strewn valleys and hillsides of Nepal as more than 1,300 people were missing in the Himalayan country and neighbouring China after a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering a catastrophic flash flood.
Authorities in Nepal yesterday used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys after Wednesday’s disaster swept a road thronged by trekkers and pilgrims that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet.
The death toll was over 350 as of press time, with dozens of bodies swept down into the plains from where they were being recovered.
Nepal’s Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said the focus remained on finding survivors as 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 tally of missing in Tibet’s Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said yesterday, including 260 foreign nationals. China said the death toll stayed at three.
China is in close communication with Nepal on search and rescue efforts, with nearly 100 Chinese nationals in the affected area across the border in Nepal, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
China’s Premier Li Qiang, the country’s number two official, arrived at the disaster-stricken site in Gyirong yesterday afternoon, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Verified videos showed crushing masses of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong, with homes, roads and power projects washed away in Nepal as the flows travelled downstream.
Ganesh Aryal, the administrator of Chitwan district, said authorities had recovered 103 bodies from the river system in his district which is about 100km away in the plains from the worst-hit region of Trishuli.
In the hardest-hit districts, helicopters were dropping tents, food and other emergency supplies provided by neighbouring India, said Raja Ram Basnet, a spokesman for Nepal’s army.
The disaster is a major challenge for Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah five-month-old government but officials said the country had experience in handling such tragedies, including the 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people.
Chinese authorities have identified risks from a still-dammed lake in Gyirong, upstream from the mudslide and flood-stricken Tibet-Nepal border crossing that could complicate rescue efforts, particularly as rains are forecast, CCTV said.
Yesterday morning, the dammed lake was estimated at two million cubic meters in volume and it was already overflowing, state media said citing the Chinese Water Resources Ministry.
Another three million cubic meters of water is expected to enter the lake over the next three days, posing a high risk of a breach, it added.
“There are no human-made things, no human settlement left. Everything is just flat,” Sagar Pandey, the chief executive of a Himalayan tourism operator, told Reuters after flying over the zone in a helicopter. “So anyone in the hotel, the restaurant, or the car, I believe that everybody is gone.”
Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the border showed many people fleeing from a torrent of rock, mud and water that destroyed buildings and vehicles.
The Gyirong border port has a key role in the flagship Belt and Road network linking China to South Asia, with logistics parks, yards, and parking lots built in the past decade as part of extensive development efforts. — Reuters
