Tibet floods: activists accuse China of underreporting toll

Exiled Tibetans and advocacy groups accused China of underreporting the death toll from floods in Tibet border regions with Nepal, while Beijing rejected the claims as "malicious smearing and sensationalism".

Chinese state media reported 16 deaths and 546 missing people in Tibet. China's foreign ministry said the release of information had been "open, transparent and timely".

The state-run Xinhua news agency said emergency workers were trying to find survivors and reopen a major highway. State broadcaster CCTV showed excavators clearing debris beside a swollen, muddy river.

Chinese authorities penalised 10 people accused of spreading misinformation online by suggesting the number of dead or missing was far above official figures, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Exile-run Tibet Radio, based in India, said it had gathered reports of about 25 deaths of Tibetans inside Tibet, including 15 from the border area and 10 people visiting for trade and work. Tibetans in exile in India, citing contact with relatives in the hard-hit Gyirong area, said five villages were mainly affected and estimated that at least 24 people had died.

Those exiles also said relatives told them many labourers from Lhasa and Shigatse had been at a bridge construction project in the area and that their whereabouts were unknown.

The International Campaign for Tibet called on China to disclose complete and verifiable information about damage and casualties. The advocacy group said its sources inside Tibet reported that at least four villages were hardest hit, with more than 300 homes destroyed and many residents still unaccounted for.

In Nepal, the wave of freezing water and debris unleashed by a glacial collapse on the China-Nepal border on August 26 killed at least 939 people and left nearly 4,500 missing.