The number of people missing in Nepal and China surpassed 2,400 Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster days after a tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept away villages and killed hundreds. Rescuers were battling through mud even as the threat of new floods loomed, with emergency teams recovering 586 bodies so far – and some of the dead swept downstream as far away as India. The new figures came as Nepal's disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing persons list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash. Read moreRescuers grapple with mountain of challenges after the Nepal-Tibet floods Relatives have crowded hospitals in Nepal's capital in a painful hunt for their loved ones, with posters on the walls bearing photos and names of the missing. "Today is the third day and we don't know anything. Hopefully he is in a safe place," Samjhana Thing, 27, told AFP referring to her brother. "We lost everything. He is our everything." The US Geological Survey said the disaster – the deadliest for Nepal since a 2015 earthquake – was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.
The flash floods were Nepal's deadliest natural disaster since a 2015 earthquake. © Prabin Ranabhat, AFP
