In the wreckage left by a flash flood in Nepal, rescue crews pushed heavy machinery through layers of mud and debris on Friday as the search for survivors grew increasingly desperate and authorities raced to prevent another surge of water.
Nepal’s confirmed death toll had risen to 469 by this morning, while nearly 1,000 people remained missing in Nepal and neighbouring Tibet. The disaster began on Wednesday morning, when a glacier collapse unleashed a massive torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris into Himalayan river systems.
- Advertisement -
The flood tore through villages and valleys, sweeping away power stations, roads and bridges along a route connecting Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet. The area is also a popular destination for trekkers and pilgrims.
At least 540 of those missing are foreign nationals.
Nepal does not require assistance from other countries for its search and rescue operations, the country’s foreign ministry said.
“The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” said Lok Bahadur Chhetri, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry.
Dibga Tamang was among the final people rescued from the badly damaged town of Rasuwa yesterday. He was airlifted with three others to an army camp in Nuwakot.
“All of our people have gone. They are dead,” he said.
“I have no one left waiting for me. Everything and everyone is gone. The end.”
The enormous volume of water and debris has created a new danger, with officials warning that additional flooding could trigger a second disaster.
China said a barrier lake formed where the Tsogyal and Purupqiangzangbu rivers meet was overflowing and could burst.
China announced that it had paused a rescue operation because of the high risk of renewed flooding in Tibet, where hundreds remain missing after a deadly mudslide struck the border region.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that a lake created by huge deposits of debris had started spilling toward the area rescue crews had been trying to reach.
“So all rescue teams have been ordered to stand by in place and wait for further instructions,” it said, adding that emergency teams that had reached the area earlier “have been ordered to withdraw one kilometer”.
Nepal’s disaster management authority also warned that a debris-blocked lake on the Bhotekoshi River at the flood site was rising and could burst. Across the border, China said about three million cubic metres of water — roughly the equivalent of 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools — was expected to flow into an already dammed lake over the next three days.
Chinese state media, citing the water resources ministry, said there was a high risk the lake could breach, with peak flow expected around 1 September.
“The volume of water is continuing to increase, and so is the risk,” Zhu Jinfeng, a researcher in the ministry’s hydrology department, told CCTV.
A man observes the swollen river following flash floods in Devighat, Nepal
Torrent tore through border crossing
Chinese rescuers had still not reached the worst-hit area on the China-controlled side of the border — the Gyirong border crossing — by yesterday evening, according to state media reports. Crews were working to clear debris from the main access road leading to the site.
The Gyirong border port is an important link in China’s Belt and Road network connecting the country with South Asia. Logistics zones and parking areas have been built there over the past decade.
Dramatic footage filmed on Wednesday showed immense torrents of muddy water and debris ripping through buildings and other structures in the border crossing area within seconds, engulfing people as they tried to escape.
Read more: Devastating floods on Nepal-Tibet border described as ‘apocalyptic’How a glacier collapse may have caused Nepal-Tibet floods
The number of missing people in Tibet’s Gyirong County stood at 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said, including 260 foreign nationals. Only three deaths had so far been confirmed on the Chinese side.
China’s Premier Li Qiang, the country’s second-highest-ranking official, arrived at the disaster zone in Gyirong yesterday afternoon, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
His visit indicated that Beijing was treating the disaster as a matter of the highest national priority.
‘Exploded like a bomb’
The flood “came in suddenly and exploded like a bomb,” said Janak Bahadur, a survivor in Nepal’s Devighat.
“The river looked small from a distance but it suddenly started overflowing and swept through.”
The missing foreigners in Nepal are from more than two dozen countries. India, Australia and South Korea are among the nations sending aid and rescue teams.
Two Irish citizens are among those unaccounted for.
More than 30 British nationals are among the hundreds missing and feared dead.
Security personnel unload relief supplies from a helicopter in Nepal
US President Donald Trump said the United States had offered support.
“Nobody’s ever seen anything quite like that, where very powerful, strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks. It’s a terrible thing. We are sending aid and we’ve spoken to the leadership and we let them know anything they want, they’ll have.”
Across the world, relatives of missing people waited anxiously for any information about their loved ones.
Vasanthi Muniandy said her sister, Vennila, was travelling with a Hindu pilgrimage group from Malaysia. She last heard from her after Vennila crossed into Tibet from Nepal.
“I am totally broken. My sister is very important to me,” Ms Muniandy said.
“I really want her to come back. I don’t have anyone but her. I just want her to come back home. I want her to be safe.”
Ganesh Aryal, administrator of Chitwan district, said officials had recovered 103 bodies from the river system in his district, about 100km away in the plains from the worst-hit area around Trishuli.
Local hospitals did not have enough room for all the bodies, so district authorities were erecting tents and making arrangements for families to identify and claim their dead relatives, he said.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah, who visited flood-hit Nuwakot yesterday, said the crisis remained extremely difficult.
“All the state agencies are operating at full capacity. Our first priority now is to save life of each citizen, search and rescue of the missing, treat the injured and provide immediate relief to the affected families,” he said.
The disaster poses a major test for Shah’s five-month-old government. Officials, however, said Nepal had experienced agencies and personnel capable of responding to large-scale tragedies, including the 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people.
Additional reporting by PA
