New landslide on Nepal-China border creates new accumulation of water

A new landslide detected downstream of the natural dam formed after the flood that hit a border area between northern Nepal and China this week is creating another accumulation of water that forced the transfer of rescue teams near the Gyirong border crossing.

The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management reported this Sunday that surveillance drones detected a landslide on a slope located about 2.8 kilometers downstream from the natural dam formed after the incident during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

The dislodged material partially blocked the channel and formed a new barrier, behind which water is beginning to accumulate, according to state television CCTV.

Given the new risk, the Ministry brought together specialists to evaluate the evolution of the barrier and ordered the personnel participating in the rescue operations near the Gyirong border crossing, located between Nepal and the Tibet region (southwest of China), to be transferred to a safe area and which was completely devastated by the flood.

The authorities have deployed reconnaissance drones to monitor both this new accumulation and the evolution of the dam previously formed upstream.

The latter had been one of the main secondary risks after the flood and forced the temporary suspension of part of the search operations on Friday for fear of a sudden break.

The Ministry of Water Resources indicated on Saturday that that first dam was already "practically empty" and that the channel had recovered a "normal" natural flow.

The flood was unleashed on Wednesday after the collapse of a large mass of ice on a glacier located in Nepal, according to preliminary investigations, and devastated towns and infrastructure on both sides of the border area.

The latest separate reports from Nepal and China count at least 750 dead and 3,044 missing after the flood.