China, Nepal race to find thousands still missing 12 days after floods

Rescuers in Nepal are racing to reach thousands of people missing in areas near the China border after catastrophic floods as search operations enter their 12th day.

The flooding that authorities say was likely caused by a glacial collapse last month has killed at least 1,384 people and left more than 5,500 missing, among them about 800 foreigners, across the two countries.

In Nepal, rescuers have retrieved 1,341 bodies and are searching for about 4,996 people, the national disaster agency said on Sunday. In Tibet, the death toll has risen to 43, with 519 people missing, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

Four people have been found alive since Friday, three of them in tunnels at hydropower facilities, where the government initially said about 100 people could be alive. Nepal’s Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said teams at flooded hydropower tunnels were facing multiple challenges.

“Search and rescue is going on at the tunnels despite geography, adverse weather and lack of connectivity,” he told the AFP news agency.

On the Chinese side, rescuers face deep mud, poor weather and the risk of further landslides that have slowed work in the narrow gorge.

Nothing remains of a five-storey customs building at Gyirong, once China’s main land port with Nepal, where workers are digging with shovels, excavators and ground-penetrating radar to recover lost people.

The only road into Gyirong reopened on Wednesday, allowing heavy equipment in.