NUWAKOT, Nepal: The death toll from a flash flood that occurred earlier this week in Nepal has reached 469, Nepal police said on Friday.
Rescue teams using heavy machinery dug through mud and debris in Nepalese towns devastated by a flash flood two days ago, as hopes of finding survivors faded and officials worked to reduce the risk of fresh flooding.
Almost 1,000 more missing in Nepal and in neighboring Tibet, near where a glacier collapse on Wednesday morning sent a huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris cascading through Himalayan mountain river systems.
The flood ripped through villages and valleys, destroying power stations, roads and bridges along a route that links Katmandu with Lhasa in Tibet and is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Of those missing, at least 540 are foreigners.
Authorities in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys, while emergency services – some using sniffer dogs – recovered dozens of bodies swept down into the plains.
