Nearly 1,500 people in Nepal and China’s Tibet are missing after a Himalayan flood triggered by a wall of mud and rock, and police said the death toll is expected to rise beyond 165. Helicopters are searching for survivors and dropping emergency supplies in cut-off areas. The disaster hit a rugged border region used by trekkers and pilgrims, and many of the missing are foreign nationals.
Rescuers carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal's Nuwakot district, Aug. 26. AP-Yonhap
TRISHULI, Nepal/BEIJING — Nearly 1,500 people including at least 800 foreigners are missing across Nepal and China's Tibet, authorities said on Thursday, after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys.
Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off after Wednesday's disaster swept a rugged mountainous region thronged by trekkers and pilgrims linking Lhasa in Tibet with the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. Police said they expected the death toll to rise beyond 165.
"This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered," police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told Reuters. Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials said.
