Search continues as number missing in Nepal-Tibet floods rises to 2,478 – as it happened

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2d agoDeath toll now stands at 579 in Nepal, seven in Tibet

Nepal’s official death toll from Wednesday’s flash flood now stands at 579 people, while China says seven people have died in Tibet, the state Xinhua news agency reported early Saturday.

Chinese authorities said also they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from Tibet.

In India, authorities said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.

Scores of Hindu devotees from across the world are among those missing on the border, as many were on a pilgrimage to Tibet’s Mount Kailash.

Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling by bus with 56 others to the Chinese border when they became stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam.

“Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” Muthunathan, 46, told Agence France-Presse on Friday, showing a phone video she recorded of a torrent surging towards her. Around them, vehicles were swept away or buried under mud.

Relatives check the lists of missing people following the flash floods in Nepal, outside a hospital in Kathmandu on Friday. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty ImagesKey events

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Closing summary

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Nepal asks for foreign help with tunnel rescue, identifying and storing bodies

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Death toll now stands at 579 in Nepal, seven in Tibet

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Interim summary

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The day so far

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Chinese control of information hampers assessment of Tibet flood damage

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'Now I have nothing left to live for,' survivors grieve relatives and homes swept away in Nepal flooding

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Footage shows glacier collapse that led to deadly flooding in Nepal – video

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Death toll in China rises to seven

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‘Erased before their eyes’: desperate rescue efforts continue after Nepal-Tibet floods - podcast

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The day so far

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At least 93,000 ‘in great need’ after Nepal-Tibet flash floods, says Red Cross

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Number of missing in Nepal after flood rises to 1,924, disaster authority confirms

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Nepal flood death toll rises to 579

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EU pledges €2m in Nepal flood aid

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Timeline of how deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – video explainer

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Family of four including girl, 13, from Surrey among missing Britons - PA

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More than 1,500 are missing in Nepal floods - the numbers by country

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Nepal army team rescue people trapped in tunnel

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Death toll in Nepal-Tibet flood rises to 543

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Rescue operations resumed after pause due to overflowing lake

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Overall death toll reaches 474

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China says lake risks 'gradually decreasing'

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Helicopter rescue operations halted in Nepal as lake dam breaks in Rasuwa district

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Interim summary

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China halts rescue at Tibet epicentre over flood risk – state media

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Nepal army trying to rescue 100 trapped in hydropower tunnel

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Nepal death toll rises to 469, police say

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Summary: river at risk of flooding again amid race to find survivors

Closing summary

We’re wrapping up the Nepal-Tibet flash flood for the time being. Here are the latest developments:

Reuters reports the death toll from the catastrophic flash flood that hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday has today risen to 626, according to Nepal police, while China’s Xinhua news agency earlier today reported seven people confirmed dead in Tibet.

At least 2,478 people are missing. Nepal’s disaster agency on Friday said 1,924 people were missing on its side of the border, while China’s Xinhua news agency reports the total number of missing in Tibet is now 554.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far but at least 93,000 people are estimated to have been affected by the disaster, according to the Red Cross.

At least 777 foreigners are missing, with Nepal’s disaster agency on Friday reporting 517 foreigners unaccounted for – which could include tourists and foreign workers – and Chinese officials putting the number of foreigners missing at 260.

A Chinese rescue team reached the all-but-obliterated Gyirong border crossing complex for the first time yesterday, finding “nothing but ruins.” More than 550 ‌remain unaccounted for in Tibet’s Gyirong County after the massive flash flood.

Reversing an earlier decision, Nepal’s foreign minister has said the country needs specialised and technical help from other countries for a tunnel rescue and for identifying and storing bodies. It has also asked China and India for bailey bridges that can quickly be erected.

The number of Australians who were reported missing in the catastrophic Nepal flooding disaster has risen to 41, with one family celebrating after an unaccounted-for woman made contact with them yesterday.

A Chinese rescue team reached the all-but-obliterated Gyirong border crossing complex for the first time yesterday, finding “nothing but ruins.”

More than 550 ‌remain unaccounted for in Tibet’s Gyirong County after Wednesday’s massive flash flood, including 260 foreigners, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

A rappelling rescue team descended into the once-bustling border-crossing area from wooded mountain slopes, the state broadcaster China Central Television said.

“As far as I can see, it’s nothing but debris,” rescue official Zou Mingqi told state media. The area where travellers went through border control to enter or leave China has been flattened to a muddy area, according to satellite images.

You can read more on that story here.

In this photo released by Xinhua news agency, rescuers from the People’s Armed Police Force search for victims at the mudslide-hit area near Gyirong Port in China’s Tibet autonomous region on Friday. Photograph: Liu Shuang/Xinhua/APNepal asks for foreign help with tunnel rescue, identifying and storing bodies

We’re just learning that Nepal’s foreign minister has said the country needs foreign help for a tunnel rescue and for identifying and storing bodies.

The country needs foreign ⁠help ⁠in specialised and ​technical areas in ⁠which it does ⁠not ​have expertise but not in ⁠search and rescue, ​foreign minister ​Shisir Khanal told ​Reuters late on Friday.

“We have already made requests for such specialised services and technical assistance in areas ‌where we don’t have enough expertise and technical knowhow,” Khanal said.

The Nepalese army has undertaken a dangerous and difficult rescue operation of people trapped in a tunnel of a hydropower project in the flood-hit district of Rasuwa. Rescuers are seen crawling on thick mud towards the trapped people and carrying them out to safety.

Khanal said Nepal has also asked India and China for bailey bridges – portable, prefabricated truss bridges made of standardised panels that can be assembled quickly – to reopen early transport and communication in the disaster-hit area where about two dozen bridges have been destroyed.

One of the many bridges swept away by the flash floods, this one in DeviGhat village, Nepal. Photograph: Ritesh Shukla/Getty ImagesDeath toll now stands at 579 in Nepal, seven in Tibet

Nepal’s official death toll from Wednesday’s flash flood now stands at 579 people, while China says seven people have died in Tibet, the state Xinhua news agency reported early Saturday.

Chinese authorities said also they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from Tibet.

In India, authorities said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.

Scores of Hindu devotees from across the world are among those missing on the border, as many were on a pilgrimage to Tibet’s Mount Kailash.

Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling by bus with 56 others to the Chinese border when they became stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam.

“Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” Muthunathan, 46, told Agence France-Presse on Friday, showing a phone video she recorded of a torrent surging towards her. Around them, vehicles were swept away or buried under mud.

Relatives check the lists of missing people following the flash floods in Nepal, outside a hospital in Kathmandu on Friday. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty ImagesThe number of Australians who were reported missing in the catastrophic Nepal flooding disaster has risen to 41, with one family celebrating after an unaccounted-for woman made contact with them yesterday.

It means three additional Australians were confirmed missing overnight – up from 38 who remained unaccounted for on Friday evening.

Other countries are regularly updating tallies for citizens missing or accounted for. Ninety US citizens are missing, according to the state department while three have been rescued. Tourism board figures released by Nepal on Friday showed 98 people from India were missing, but 85 others were rescued.

The Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs has been urgently working with local authorities to contact Cara Severino, 25, who became the first Australian reported missing who has been confirmed safe.

Interim summary

If you are just joining us, here’s the latest information coming out Nepal and elsewhere about the Nepal-Tibet calamity. It is 6.18am in Nepal on Saturday.

At least 2,478 people are missing after the catastrophic flash flood hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday. Nepal’s disaster agency on Friday said 1,924 people were missing on its side of the border, while China’s Xinhua news agency early today reported the total number of missing in Tibet is now 554, with seven people confirmed dead.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far but at least 93,000 people are estimated to have been affected by the disaster, according to the Red Cross.

At least 777 foreigners are missing, with Nepal’s disaster agency on Friday reporting 517 foreigners unaccounted for – which could include tourists and foreign workers – and Chinese officials putting the number of foreigners missing at 260.

Nepal on Friday reversed an earlier decision and said it would allow foreign teams and experts to help with rescue efforts, apparently under pressure from other countries, especially those whose citizens are unaccounted for, a leading English-language newspaper, the Kathmandu Post, reported.

The number of Australians who were reported missing has risen to 41, according to the Australian government, while one family celebrated after an unaccounted-for woman made contact with them yesterday.

Three American citizens have been rescued but at least 90 Americans are unaccounted for, the US state department told USA Today. It said it was not aware of any US citizen deaths so far.

Nepal is continuing to monitor two lakes upstream of the flood zone where hundreds died ⁠on Wednesday, an official with Nepal’s disaster management authority said. Flood risks will remain until the two lakes have ⁠fully drained, the official added, as one of the two lakes began overflowing on Friday.

A flash flood survivor is taken to a medical camp in the Nuwakot district of Nepal on Friday. Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/APThe day so far

Nepal’s disaster authority raised sharply the number of missing to 1,924 on Friday, two days after devastating floods that killed at least 579 in the country. The number of missing includes 517 foreigners, as well as 933 workers on hydropower projects on the rivers where a wall of water powered down on Wednesday morning, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The AP is reporting a higher figure, with almost 2,500 are missing and nearly 600 people killed.

Authorities in Nepal and China issued warnings about the risk of a second wave of flooding. Chinese authorities said an artificial lake had formed after a mudslide hit the Tibet-Nepal border, which risked “sending flood waters downstream”, according to state media. Nepal’s disaster authority said a lake that had formed by debris blocking a river at the site was also rising and ‌at risk of bursting. Amid the mounting fears over a second wave of flooding, families are rushing to Nepal to search for the 33 British nationals who are still missing.

Rescuers were forced to suspend their search for survivors, while residents who had returned to Rasuwa were told to evacuate their homes, with many seen fleeing up the hillsides to escape a possible surge in the river.

The Red Cross has said at least 93,000 people may have been affected by the disaster, triggering a huge rescue operation that is being hampered by fears of new flooding. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network, said it feared the death toll would continue to rise as some of the hardest-hit areas remained inaccessible after roads and bridges were destroyed by the torrents.

The European Union has promised €2m ($2.3m) in aid for Nepal. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X that the “immediate humanitarian aid” would help “deliver life-saving assistance to families and communities hit hardest.”

Nepal has said it does not yet need foreign assistance as the search and rescue operation – complicated by the destruction of bridges and roads across the mountainous region – continues. “The offer for help is natural,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, a spokesperson for Nepal’s foreign ministry, said on Friday. “Our security agencies ‌are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help.”

Rescue teams have reported finding bodies hundreds of miles downstream from the disaster zone in the Chitwan district of Nepal, near the Tibetan border. Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for advanced medical care and more than 100 people were rescued by Nepali army personnel in helicopters.

The number of missing individuals in the deadly flash flood has risen past 2,400, according to a count by AFP.

Nepal’s disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing persons list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash, AFP reported.

The news agency also reported that emergency teams have recovered 586 bodies so far – with some of the dead swept downstream as far away as India.

Our most recent reporting indicates that 1,924 individuals are missing and at least 579 were killed, as of Friday, two days after the devastating floods.

Chinese control of information hampers assessment of Tibet flood damage

Amy Hawkins

As the scale of the devastation caused by the flash floods in Nepal and Tibet unfolds, the picture is emerging far more quickly in Nepal than in China, where strict controls on the flow of information from one of its most sensitive regions are hampering the public’s understanding of events.

The floods devastated villages along the Himalayan border region that straddles Nepal and the Chinese region of Tibet. On Friday, the official death toll in Nepal rose to 538 people, while in China it was just five, despite the fact that the villages around the Gyirong border crossing are home to several thousand people.

“Everything about Tibet is seen through the national security prism. And therefore nobody is going to say anything or report anything that has not been cleared from the very top,” said Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at Soas University of London.

For anyone on the ground, “you can’t report a higher figure of deaths, even if you have seen more bodies yourself, until the official statement says that the figure has gone up”.

map of China-Nepal borderGoogle Earth map of China and Nepal’s border.Tibet, brought under Chinese control in the 1950s, is the most sensitive and tightly controlled region in the country. Sporadic protests, including self-immolations, by Tibetans calling for more autonomy and religious freedom have been cracked down on by the authorities.

International journalists cannot visit Tibet apart from on tightly choreographed government tours. Many Tibetans are not allowed passports and have very limited contact with the outside world. Tibetans can be punished for speaking to journalists. Human rights groups have for years criticised Beijing’s policies on Tibetan language and culture, which activists say are under attack.

As the Chinese government’s tight controls on information limit international coverage of its relief efforts, it continues to stress that the disaster is a national priority.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, chaired a meeting on Friday to direct rescue work, according to state media, in which he called on the authorities to “make every effort to search for missing people from China and abroad”.

He also dispatched his number two, premier Li Qiang, to visit the affected area. According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, Li “emphasised that General Secretary Xi Jinping is deeply concerned about the people in the disaster-stricken areas”.

'Now I have nothing left to live for,' survivors grieve relatives and homes swept away in Nepal flooding

Hannah Ellis-PetersenandGaurav Pokharel in Bidur, Nepal.

Sangke Dolma Tamang, 61, had been cheerily cooking snacks in her village of Mailung in the Rasuwa district when the floods came without warning. The whole family ran uphill for safety, but as she grabbed for her husband, he slipped from her grip and was washed into the dark, fast-moving waters.

“Others tried to pull him to safety, but the flood swept him away,” she said, tears rolling down her weathered cheeks. There was, she said, nothing left of her village now. She had spent a night sheltering on higher ground, until an army helicopter arrived and brought to her safety at the barracks. Her son too was missing since the disaster, and she waited anxiously for any news.

“Now I have nothing left to live for,” said Tamang. “The whole house is gone. We couldn’t salvage anything.”

Sangke Dolma Tamang (in red), 61, grieves her family and home in the aftermath of the deadly flooding in Nepal. Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The GuardianAs a melting glacier high up in the Himalayas between Tibet and Nepal splintered and crashed into the valley below, it set off a deadly cascade of water, mud and debris down the Bhote Koshi River. The Nepali village homes that lined the riverbank and clung to the mountainside stood little chance.

Two days after the disaster, at least 579 people have been confirmed dead and more than 1,900 are still missing, the numbers rising by the day. Many in Nepal fear that the true scale of the disaster has yet to emerge, as the worst-hit areas in districts such as Rusawa are only accessible by helicopter. The situation remains even more opaque in Tibet, which is under tight Chinese media control. Though it was at the centre of the disaster, Chinese authorities insist only five people there have died.

In the army barracks in the town of Bidur, where Nepal’s rescue efforts were being coordinated, helicopters carrying those rescued from flooded areas continued to arrive every few minutes, while others carrying vital supplies of food and clean water flew out and high up into the mountains.

Flood victims evacuate to Nepal army camp - loopOn Friday morning, ground rescue efforts were halted over fears that the river levels were rising once again. But the Nepali army spokesperson, Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet, said the helicopter rescues would continue for as long as people were missing. He accepted that the death toll was hard to calculate. “Right now, our focus is mostly on finding the living,” he said.

Among those recently brought to safety was 60-year-old Murali Maiya Tamang, who had been in Rusawa and was found hanging in a tree. As the flash floods came down the valley, she had watched as her house was washed clean away. She convulsed with tears as she waited desperately for news of her son, who was in their village when the floods struck and has been missing since.

“My husband had already died in Nepal’s 2015 earthquake,” she said. “Now this flood has taken away the only son I had left. I am all alone now. What is the point of living now?”

You can read the full piece, with photographs and video by Ahmer Khan, here:

Here are some images coming through on the news wires of residents salvaging their belongings after the deadly flash flooding in Nepal.

Residents salvage their belongings from damaged houses after flash flooding in the Devighat area of Nuwakot district in Nepal today. Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/APA woman carries a bag and suitcase of her belongings after her house was heavily covered in mud. Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty ImagesResidents salvage belongings from their destroyed home. Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty ImagesFootage shows glacier collapse that led to deadly flooding in Nepal – video

This drone video shared with the Guardian shows the moment of glacier collapse that led to the devastating flash flooding in Nepal. The numbers of people missing, killed or injured are feared to continue to rise as rescue efforts are under way.

Footage shows glacier collapse that led to deadly flooding in Nepal – videoThe UK has deployed a rapid response team of specially trained volunteers to Nepal to help with the disaster there.

The foreign secretary Ed Miliband said: “The scenes from Nepal are devastating, and our thoughts remain with everyone affected.

“The safety and welfare of British nationals is our top priority. That is why we are deploying a Rapid Deployment Team to Nepal to provide additional support on the ground for British nationals and their families at what is an incredibly difficult time.

“Our staff are working closely with the Nepali authorities, emergency responders and our embassy in Kathmandu to ensure those affected can access the assistance and information they need.

“We will continue to do everything we can to support British nationals impacted by this tragedy.”

British nationals in Nepal who require consular assistance should contact the British Embassy in Kathmandu or call the FCDO on +44 (0)20 7008 5000.

Death toll in China rises to seven

The death toll has risen to seven and 554 remain missing after the mudslide at a border port in China’s Xizang region, according to local reports.