Source Aljajeera
KATHMANDU, Nepal — The death toll from catastrophic flash floods and mudslides along the Nepal-Tibet border has surpassed 900, as an urgent, multinational rescue operation works around the clock to reach hundreds of workers trapped inside blocked hydropower tunnels.
As of Monday, Nepali authorities confirmed that the number of fatalities has risen to at least 903, with more than 4,200 people—including hundreds of foreigners—still unaccounted for. The unprecedented deluge struck last Wednesday, sending a massive torrent of ice, rock, mud, and debris surging through valley towns in Nepal and across the border into China.
According to a preliminary study by Nepali scientists, the disaster was triggered by a massive ice-rock avalanche originating at an altitude of around 5,200 meters in Rasuwa’s Langtang-Lirung area. The debris plummeted into the Lhende River before surging violently through the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers.
The immediate focus of the recovery effort has shifted to a desperate race against time at several heavily damaged hydroelectric sites. Nepal’s disaster authority reported that 933 people associated with hydropower projects remain missing. Rescuers, backed by Indian tunnel experts and the Nepali Army, are battling massive debris deposits to reach workers believed to be trapped in around half a dozen blocked tunnels, including the Trishuli-3A project site in Nuwakot.
Military personnel and earth-moving machinery have been working through the night to clear mud and boulders. Over the weekend, the Nepali Army achieved a minor breakthrough by successfully inserting a pipe into a tunnel at the Trishuli-3A site to pump air to the trapped workers before beginning excavation.
Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah has characterized the floods as an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster”. Nearly 21,000 security personnel have been deployed to assist in the rescue operations, and the Red Cross estimates that more than 90,000 people have been directly affected by the catastrophe.
The disaster has also wreaked havoc on the Chinese side of the border in Tibet, where Chinese state media has reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing. Chinese President Xi Jinping has directed local authorities to step up relief operations and make every possible effort to search for the missing.
Rescue workers remain on high alert as the region contends with the threat of further inundation. Authorities are closely monitoring newly formed glacial lakes high in the Himalayan mountains, which threaten to overflow and release more water and debris into the already devastated valleys below.
