A massive flood in the Himalayan region on the Nepal-China border has killed 768 people and left 3,048 missing as the disaster enters its fifth day, officials said Sunday. Nepal’s disaster management agency said most of the deaths and missing are in central Bagmati province, while China’s Tibet autonomous region also reported fatalities and people unaccounted for.
In Nepal, 752 people have died and 2,502 remain missing, according to the agency. In Tibet, 16 people have been confirmed dead and 546 are missing. The total missing includes about 850 foreign nationals, underscoring the scale of the disaster’s impact on travelers and workers in the region.
A joint rapid-response team from South Korea planned to deploy two helicopters Sunday to search for nine missing Korean nationals, but the mission was delayed after bad weather prevented Nepalese military authorities from granting flight clearance. Search and rescue operations continue with more than 15,000 Nepalese troops, police and other personnel involved.
Officials said nearly 1,000 workers are missing from more than 11 hydropower sites, and about 100 may be trapped in tunnels. Rescue teams have begun drilling through buried tunnel roofs to inject air. Experts also warned that parts of natural lakes formed by the flood could collapse, adding to the danger.
Nepal’s hospitals have reached capacity in their morgues, prompting authorities to begin burying some unidentified bodies. The government says recovery could cost $4 billion to $5 billion, and international assistance from the United States, Canada and the European Union is already arriving.
