Devastating floods along the China-Nepal border have killed at least 1,252 people in Nepal, according to the country’s disaster authority, pushing the combined death toll above 1,270.
Chinese state media earlier reported 21 deaths in Tibet, bringing the overall toll from the disaster, which began on 26 August, to 1,273.
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Nepal’s number of missing people remained at 4,216 as rescue teams continued their efforts under emergency conditions.
China has reported 541 missing people, raising the total number unaccounted for across both countries to 4,757.
Some 75 Americans are also missing, the US State Department said.
Relief agencies were weighing whether to send porters into isolated districts near the Chinese border with essential supplies
In Kathmandu, relatives of missing foreign nationals searched hospitals and morgues, desperate for any word about their loved ones.
“I feel desperate, it’s been so many days,” said 53-year-old American Sanjeev Rai, who travelled to Nepal after discovering that his wife could not be located.
The floods ripped through mountainous districts, destroying roads, bridges and other vital infrastructure and making relief operations significantly more difficult.
Aid agencies said they were considering using porters to carry supplies to severely affected areas near the border with China.
“We’ve been discussing with the government how also to use helicopters, cargo drones to be able to deliver aid,” Lila Pieters Yahia, the UN resident coordinator for Nepal, told reporters in Kathmandu.
“The beauty of your country (is) you have porters. So we have to go back into also those very simple means to bring the aid as soon as possible,” Ms Pieters Yahia said.
Porters have long served as the backbone of trekking and mountaineering expeditions in Nepal, carrying heavy loads for days along steep, difficult trails and through harsh conditions.
Nepali army personnel and rescue crews, supported by foreign specialists, continued searching for survivors believed to be trapped inside several hydropower tunnels.
The army said excavators and other heavy machinery were being used in the continuing operation to search the tunnels for anyone who may still be alive.
