Nepal’s death toll from Wednesday’s flood has risen to 626, with 2,426 people still missing. Rescue operations continue in Nepal and China’s Gyirong county amid extensive infrastructure damage.
Nepal’s disaster agency raised the death toll from Wednesday’s flood to 626 as search teams continued operations in areas cut off by destroyed infrastructure.
Nepal’s death toll from Wednesday’s devastating flood rose to 626 on Saturday, while 2,426 people remained missing as search and rescue teams worked across areas affected by destroyed roads, bridges and communications infrastructure.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) reported 626 recovered bodies in Nepal, up from the 616 deaths recorded hours earlier by the country’s police. China separately reported seven deaths in Gyirong county in southwestern Tibet, bringing the combined death toll reported by the two sides to at least 633, with 2,980 people still unaccounted for.
The figures are being reported separately by Nepal and China, with no cross-border mechanism currently indicated for producing a unified casualty count.
Thousands of personnel were deployed on both sides of the affected area as rescue and recovery operations continued. Access remained difficult in several locations because roads, bridges and communications links had been destroyed.
Text Reads: 📌 The state of emergency remains in effect in China and Nepal following the earthquake.
🔴 More than 1,000 people have been evacuated to safe areas. China has allocated 220 million yuan for the emergency response. On the Chinese side, the border crossing at Gyirong suffered severe damage.
Rescue operations continue in Gyirong
In Gyirong, Chinese rescue teams continued searching the hardest-hit areas after professional rescuers reached the center of the disaster zone by land on Friday. The border crossing between the two countries was completely destroyed, according to images distributed by Chinese media.
Authorities were also monitoring a natural dam formed when mud and rocks blocked a watercourse during the flood. The buildup briefly forced the suspension of some rescue operations in Chinese territory on Friday after water began overflowing. Operations resumed after the water level subsequently fell.
Experts cited by Chinese state media said water was now flowing naturally through the area, reducing the risk of a sudden breach.
The Ministry of Water Resources has ordered authorities to strengthen monitoring of water levels and river flows in the area and assess potential water accumulation and risks associated with glacial lakes upstream of Gyirong.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that the number of missing people in Gyirong had fallen to 554, from an earlier figure of 558. Emergency teams also rescued two residents of Resuo.
Difficult access hampers search in Nepal
Search teams continued working in the disaster zone in Nepal, where hardened mud has made some affected areas difficult to reach. On the Chinese side, teams were searching around Gyirong after professional rescuers reached the center of the devastated area following two days of difficulties caused by destroyed roads, landslides and communications outages.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the flood was triggered by the collapse of a large mass of ice from a glacier in Nepal. The resulting surge swept through communities and infrastructure along the Bhote Koshi basin and into neighboring Gyirong county in Tibet, which is under Chinese control.
Author: MK
Source: EFE / Agencies
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