Rescue teams in Nepal continued searching on Tuesday for hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in hydropower tunnels after catastrophic flash floods struck the Nepal-China border region last week.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 1,003 recovered bodies as of 1 p.m Tuesday. Later reports citing police and other official updates put Nepal’s death toll as high as about 1,050. Chinese authorities had earlier confirmed 16 deaths in Tibet. Combined figures put the overall confirmed death toll well above 1,000.
About 3,900 people remained missing in Nepal on Tuesday, including 583 foreign nationals, according to a midday bulletin from the country’s disaster authority. Other Tuesday tallies put the missing near 4,000. Chinese authorities have reported 546 missing in Tibet. The figures have shifted through the day as recovery continues.
The floods began on the morning of Aug. 26 after a high-altitude ice-and-rock collapse, according to satellite analysis and seismic data cited by scientists and agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS first reported a tremor, then said the signal was produced by the landslide itself and later listed it around magnitude 5.2. Debris and water surged down river systems into Nepal’s Rasuwa, Nuwakot and other districts, as well as areas of Tibet.
Scientists have described a mix of rock landslide and glacial material rather than a classic glacial lake outburst flood. Any direct link between this specific collapse and long-term climate trends remains under study and has not been established as the sole cause.
Search efforts have centered on about 11 hydropower projects where authorities have said hundreds of workers were unaccounted for, many inside tunnels blocked by mud and debris. Nepal’s army reported using controlled blasts, excavators and searchlights. Teams from India and China have provided specialized tunnel-rescue support at the request of Nepali authorities.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said 279 people had been rescued from hydropower sites. Overall, more than 11,000 people have been rescued across affected areas. NDRRMA later put the rescue total at 11,884.
Operations have been interrupted by weather, damaged roads and bridges, and concern that debris-formed lakes could cause further flooding. Unidentified bodies have been buried in some locations after DNA sampling, as recovery continues.
South Korea said it would send a 44-member emergency relief team after a request from Nepal. Humanitarian groups and neighboring countries have provided additional support. Officials have warned that the final toll could rise as remote areas are reached.
Sources: Reuters; Associated Press; Al Jazeera; The Guardian; Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority; Chinese state media reports; U.S. Geological Survey analyses cited by scientists; Yonhap / Korea Herald on the South Korean team.
