Nepal-China floods: 1,385 dead, 5,500 missing

Floods after a glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border have killed at least 1,385 people and left more than 5,500 missing across the two countries, as Nepali rescuers kept searching in difficult conditions on Sunday.

The wall of icy water and debris tore through mountain districts on August 26, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Search operations entered a 12th day after four people were found alive on Friday and Saturday.

Three of the survivors were found in hydropower tunnels, where the Nepali government had initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive.

“Search and rescue is going on at the tunnels despite geography, adverse weather and lack of connectivity,” Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha told AFP. He said rescue workers faced “multiple challenges”.

On Saturday, rescuers pulled a Chinese man alive from deep inside a hydropower tunnel and rescued 64-year-old Nepali woman Chandrika Shrestha from her mud-covered home. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Shrestha's rescue had “given hope to the entire nation”.

A day earlier, two Nepali hydropower workers were rescued at the Trishuli 3A tunnel. Searches continued at multiple sites, with at least 12 hydropower projects affected.

The United Nations launched a $50 million appeal to help more than 84,000 people. UN Resident Coordinator Lila Pieters Yahia said survivors had seen their lives transformed in “one to two minutes”.

Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal called the disaster a “Himalayan tsunami” and warned that reconstruction costs could run into the billions of dollars.

Nepal has buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves after taking DNA samples for future identification, police said, with mortuaries overflowing. Only around 100 bodies have been identified and handed over to families.

Nepal will hold a national day of mourning on Monday, the 13th day since the disaster, in line with a traditional mourning period in Hindu rituals.

Nepal's disaster agency said rescuers had retrieved 1,342 bodies in the country and that around 4,996 people remained missing. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday that the death toll in Tibet had risen from 31 to 43, with a further 519 people missing.

The combined toll across Nepal and Tibet is 1,385 dead and more than 5,500 missing, including around 800 foreigners, among them tourists and pilgrims.

The exact cause of the glacial collapse is unclear. Climate change is accelerating glacial melting worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters.