File photo: A helicopter conducts a rescue operation to bought floods affected people to safe places, in Trishuli on Friday.
TRISHULI BAZAAR (NUWAKOT, NEPAL): Death toll from the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli disaster rose to 675 in Nepal on Saturday evening, with 2,426 people still missing as rescuers continued searching mud-filled valleys, riverbanks and hydropower tunnels three days after the catastrophic flood. National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said 2,498 people had been rescued, 219 were injured and more than 18,700 personnel deployed for search and rescue. Across the border in Tibet, Chinese authorities reported seven deaths and 554 people missing at Gyirong port as of early Saturday, taking the confirmed toll on the two sides to at least 682. Indian authorities revised down the number of Indian nationals unaccounted for in Nepal to 287 on Saturday evening from 320 a day earlier as more people were traced. Ministry of external affairs (MEA) said another 128 of Indian origin who held other nationalities remained uncontactable. No confirmed figure for Indian deaths has been announced by MEA. The ministry said 88 Indian nationals had been rescued, including four workers brought out from a hydropower project in Rasuwa on Saturday. They are expected to reach Kathmandu soon. With India having sent relief in three military transport aircraft, Nepal finance minister Swarnim Wagle said, “PM Modi and MEA have been very positive about expressing their solidarity and pledging any amount of support that Nepal needs... They’ve also been concerned about Indian pilgrims who have been stranded, their rescue is also a priority for us.”
India also working to bring back citizens stranded on Chinese side
A specialised Indian reconnaissance team surveyed flood-hit tunnels at Chilime and Langtang with Nepal army before a larger tunnel-rescue team and equipment were sent in. Nepalese tourism authorities maintained a separate and broader rescue database. Nepal tourism board said 261 foreign nationals and tourists had been rescued by 6pm Saturday, including 167 Indians and 40 Chinese, while 320 foreign nationals remained “out of communication”. The difference between Indian and Nepalese figures reflected separate lists being maintained by tourism, diplomatic and rescue agencies as names continued to be reconciled.India was also working to bring back nationals stranded on the Chinese side of the border. MEA said 120 Indians crossed from Tibet into Nepal Saturday. A day earlier, India had said around 400 Indians, many of them Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrims, had been located on the Chinese side and were safe. The scale of those still unaccounted for in Nepal remained dominated by people trapped at hydropower projects and along the flood corridor. NDRRMA’s missing list included 933 workers from hydropower projects as well as foreign tourists, security personnel and employees of customs and immigration offices. Searches continued inside and around several tunnels where workers were believed trapped. Rescue operations were repeatedly complicated by unstable slopes and concern over barrier lakes formed after the glacier collapse. By Saturday, Chinese hydrological teams said one major debris-dammed lake had largely begun draining naturally, reducing the immediate threat of a catastrophic breach, though authorities continued monitoring unstable debris and surrounding slopes for fresh landslides or mudslides. In Gyirong, Chinese authorities said 554 people remained missing after the glacier-triggered mudslide devastated the border port. China had evacuated 555 tourists and moved 499 villagers and construction workers to safer locations, while professional rescue teams continued searches in mud that was more than 1.5m deep in parts of the core disaster zone.
