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Rescue teams in Nepal continued their desperate search on Monday, trying to establish contact with the more than 900 people who are believed to be trapped at hydropower construction sites, six days after catastrophic flash floods devastated the country’s mountainous northern region bordering Tibet.
According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the death toll from the catastrophic floods had risen to 903, while 4,247 people continue to remain missing. Of those, 933 were workers at hydropower projects along the Trishuli River, reports RT.
Nepali Army rescue teams, supported by specialist teams from India and China, were racing against time to reach people believed trapped inside tunnels at the Chilime, Langtang and Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower projects along the Trishuli corridor.
At the Upper Trishuli 3A project, rescuers used drilling machines, excavators and hydraulic cutters for three days before locating the upper section of a tunnel and entering it on Sunday, according to the Kathmandu Post. But the tunnel was filled with water and rescuers received no response from those believed to be inside.
Teams renewed their efforts after deploying high-pressure water pumps. The remains of one person were recovered from one of the tunnels on Sunday.
Over 592 foreign nationals are still missing in Nepal, with 22 Indian and Chinese nationals being successfully rescued on Sunday.
“Our country has been facing an unimaginable and heartbreaking natural disaster,” Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post late Sunday.
The floods were reportedly triggered by a glacier collapse on the Chinese side of the border, causing the Bhote Kashi River to swell and sweep away villages, dams, bridges and roads last Wednesday.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell described the disaster as “absolutely heartbreaking”, saying scientists and local communities had warned for years about the vulnerability of the Hindu Kush Himalayas to climate change.
“We also know a warming climate, driven by humanity burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, is making tragedies like this one, and so many others around the world, much more likely, frequent and severe, with vulnerable communities often hardest hit,” Stiell said.
The threat of further flooding remained. The Trishuli River swelled again for several hours on Sunday, washing away a bridge. Rescue operations had also been briefly suspended on Friday after authorities warned that a barrier dam had breached in the upper reaches of the Bhote Kashi.
Across the border in China, the Gyirong border port remained buried under mud. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing, including 261 foreign nationals.
More than 400 Indians crossed into India from China on Sunday, according to India’s Foreign Ministry.
An Indian team in Kathmandu is conducting DNA analysis to help identify victims of the disaster.
