Rescuers in Nepal and China battled deep mud, rising rivers and a newly formed lake Sunday to search for thousands missing after a wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayas, engulfing entire villages.
Latest figures from both countries put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. Authorities confirmed 768 deaths, and some bodies were reportedly swept downstream as far away as India.
Nepal said it began the grim task of burying some of the hundreds of bodies Sunday, after taking DNA samples to allow families to reclaim them and perform traditional funeral rites once identified.
A glacial collapse caused the disaster, which struck the China-Nepal border Wednesday morning, sending a wall of water and debris downstream, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Nepali army troops and engineers also drilled through debris Sunday toward hydropower workers believed trapped in a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site in the Himalayan river valley after inserting a pipe into the passage.
