Hundreds killed, over 1,000 missing in Nepal and China after flood

Rescuers searched for survivors in the debris-strewn valleys and hillsides of Nepal on Thursday while more than 1,000 people remained missing there and in neighbouring China after a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a ​mountain river, triggering a catastrophic flash flood .

Authorities in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys in the wake of Wednesday’s disaster, which swept down a route thronged by trekkers ‌and pilgrims that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet.

Police said 359 had died, with dozens of bodies swept down into the plains from where they were being recovered.

Nepal’s disaster management authority warned of a potential new flood risk along the Bhotekoshi river after satellite images and preliminary analysis indicated that the river had been blocked and a lake had formed at the site of Wednesday’s flood.

The lake is rising and could burst, the authority said, urging residents and rescuers along the lower banks of the river to move to safe areas away from the river.

Nepal’s Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said the focus remained on finding survivors as rescue teams located 100 missing Indian visitors, mostly ​pilgrims, and 25 Chinese workers in the worst-hit region around Trishuli.

Nearly 550 foreigners were still unaccounted for while Nepali authorities were yet to determine the number of locals missing.

Full scale of disaster still unclear, Red Cross says The Red Cross said that entire villages had ​been destroyed and impassable roads and bridges had left communities cut off.

The full scale of the disaster remains unclear, it added.

“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,” said Keshav Prasad Baral, ⁠a 68-year-old survivor being treated in a Nepali hospital.

“As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher.

When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace.

But she was swept away by the mud.” A helicopter ferried him ​to safety four hours later.

“My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud,” he added.