Nepal was burying on Monday some of the hundreds of bodies retrieved after a deadly, tsunami-like flood crashed through the Himalayan region, sweeping away villages and leaving thousands still missing. The huge wave of ice, rocks and debris that smashed into villages and towns on Wednesday claimed at least 797 lives in both Nepal and Tibet -- across the border in China -- with reports of some bodies possibly swept downstream as far as India.

The death toll continues to climb two days after flash flooding obliterated parts of the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday, with at least 469 bodies recovered.

Rescuers were battling through mud even as the threat of new floods loomed, with emergency teams recovering 633 bodies so far.