Rescue teams combed through thick mud Thursday, searching for more than 1,400 people still missing after flash floods and landslides struck the border between Nepal and Tibet. The death toll has climbed to 392. Entire settlements were destroyed.
Experts have warned that further flooding could be on the way. A day before, a tsunami-like wash of icy water and dirt smashed over cities. It buried homes, wrecked bridges and dams, and washed away cars like toys. Many of the missing are international visitors, including climbers in Nepal and Hindu pilgrims who had climbed Mount Kailash, a holy mountain in Tibet.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported a glacier fall triggered the calamity. This caused a massive torrent of ice and dirt surging downstream. Climate warming is melting glaciers around the planet, increasing the chances of floods like this.
Rescue crews are trying to rescue survivors. Nepali soldiers sent dogs trained to detect bodies buried in the muck. “It’s like a giant graveyard now with sand, stones and blood,” said Omkar Joshi, 35, a customs worker rescued from a mountaintop.
So far, Nepali police have found 389 bodies. Another 910 persons, including 517 international tourists, are not reachable. China stated 100 of its citizens are also missing in Nepal, but they are not part of that tally. Most of the missing foreigners are Indian. The United States stated 90 of its people were unreachable.
State media in China stated three individuals died in the mudslide at Gyirong Port in Tibet. There are another 558 persons missing there, including 260 foreigners. China’s Premier Li Qiang visited the area Thursday to inspect rescue work. Tibet is traditionally a difficult place for foreign journalists to go to.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah called for unity in the country. He toured some of the hardest-hit districts and urged local authorities to speedily assist displaced families and open blocked roadways.
Other missing immigrants include those from Australia, Britain, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and South Korea. The deluge was a “inland tsunami” that moved some 170 kilometers into Nepal, a historian said.
The Dalai Lama said he would pray for those who had died. Chinese officials dispatched almost 800 rescue workers, as well as dogs and speedboats, to aid search efforts in Tibet.
The fall of the glacier registered as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake at first, but it was really a collapse and mudflow, the USGS stated. Experts still fear more flooding, since debris is blocking a river and trapping water upstream. Officials warned a second flood might come shortly.
Many missing pilgrims were returning from Mount Kailash when the flood struck an immigration building, claimed Indian spiritual leader Sadhguru. Speaking on a video, he wept as he described it as “a terrible and extraordinary event.”
