The death toll from the massive floods that struck the Nepal-Tibet border this week has risen to 552. The total number of dead and missing has surpassed 2,000.
According to reports from BBC and The Guardian, Nepalese police announced that as of 3 p.m. local time, 547 bodies had been recovered. This marks an increase of nearly 80 from the 469 reported earlier that morning and exceeds the 538 reported by the Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. Additionally, a total of 977 people are currently missing in Nepal, including 517 foreigners.
In Tibet, China Central Television (CCTV) reported that five people have died and 558 are missing due to a landslide that occurred on August 26. Thus, the combined death toll from the floods and landslides in both Nepal and China stands at 552, with 1,535 individuals still unaccounted for, bringing the total of dead and missing to 2,087.
Both Nepal and China are intensifying their rescue efforts, but operations are being hampered by significant damage to roads in the disaster areas and the risk of secondary flooding due to ongoing rainfall. As search and rescue operations continue, the scale of the disaster is expected to increase.
Nepalese authorities have reported difficulties in identifying and recovering the bodies, as many have been swept downstream by the river. The Chinese embassy in Nepal has warned of rising water levels in a lake formed by the landslide blocking a river, indicating a potential for further flooding and stating that search and rescue operations have entered a "critical phase."
The International Red Cross has estimated that more than 90,000 residents in Nepal have been affected by the floods and expressed serious concerns about the possibility of secondary flooding.
Meanwhile, the South Korean government announced that all ten South Koreans stranded at a hydropower construction site in Nepal have been safely evacuated to a secure area. However, the whereabouts of nine South Koreans who lost contact after the floods remain unconfirmed.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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