Death toll from Nepal-China floods rises to 584, nearly 2,500 missing

The death toll from massive flooding in the Himalayan border region between Nepal and China climbed to 584 on Friday (local time), three days after the disaster struck, with the number of missing approaching 2,500.

Nepal police said 579 people had been confirmed dead as of Friday from the floods that struck Bagmati Province in the country's north on Wednesday.

In China's Tibet Autonomous Region, the death toll from a landslide linked to the same flooding in Gyirong County, Shigatse, rose from three to five, bringing the combined fatality count for the two countries to 584.

The total stood at 362 as of Thursday but surged by more than 200 in a single day as bodies were recovered in and around Nepal's Bagmati Province.

The number of people reported missing in Nepal alone nearly doubled, jumping from 977 to 1,924.

Combined with 558 missing in Tibet, the total number of missing across the two countries reached 2,482.

Among the missing are 517 foreign nationals from about 30 countries, including India and the United States. Nine South Koreans working for Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility, who were building a hydropower plant in the area, remain out of contact.

The final toll is expected to be far higher once unofficial missing persons not yet included in Nepal's government count are factored in.

As the casualty figures mounted, several countries offered assistance, but Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that while it welcomed international financial support, it was declining foreign help with search-and-rescue operations.

Local outlet the Kathmandu Post reported that South Korea, India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had all asked the Nepali government to allow their search-and-rescue teams to participate in relief efforts.

"It is natural for them to offer help," said Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "but our security agencies are conducting the search and rescue, and we do not need that kind of help at this point."

He added that Nepal's security forces were fully capable of carrying out rescue operations and that the government would request specialized assistance or expertise if and when it became necessary.

Nepal's military said Friday it was attempting to rescue more than 100 people trapped inside a flooded tunnel at the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant, AP reported.

The plant — Nepal's largest — was under construction by workers from Doosan Enerbility and KOEN, the same companies whose employees remain unaccounted for.

Rescue efforts have been severely hampered by a thick layer of mud blanketing the scene.

"We deployed two helicopters, but it is difficult to even locate the tunnel entrance," said Raja Ram Basnet, spokesperson for the Nepali Army.

Nepal's prime minister's office issued a statement saying that despite dangerous conditions caused by bad weather, about 350 workers and local residents had recently been rescued from the tunnel, and that efforts were continuing to evacuate the roughly 100 people still trapped inside.

Nepal's rescue authorities said that by Friday afternoon, more than 14,800 security personnel had been deployed, rescuing 3,742 people from flood-affected areas, including 121 foreign nationals.

An additional 3,253 people were evacuated by helicopter, and injured survivors were transferred to hospitals in Kathmandu and other cities, authorities added.

A natural dam lake formed by debris flows in the upper Himalayan reaches overflowed Friday, temporarily halting rescue operations on both the Nepali and Chinese sides over fears of a second wave of flooding.

A Nepali disaster official said one of two lakes that formed after a massive debris flow struck upstream of the Gyirong border crossing in Tibet's autonomous region on Wednesday had overflowed. Authorities plan to install cameras and sensors downstream and deploy helicopters to continuously monitor water levels.

David Fisher, head of the Nepal delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a press conference in Geneva on Friday that at least 93,000 people had been affected, warning that urgent assistance was needed and expressing serious concern about the risk of secondary flooding.

Experts have raised the possibility that the disaster was triggered by the collapse of massive glaciers and rock formations in the Himalayas driven by climate change and global warming.

Analysis suggests that a glacier roughly 600 meters wide broke away along with rock at an elevation of 5,200 meters on Langtang Lirung (7,234 meters above sea level), generating an impact comparable to a magnitude-5.2 earthquake.

The resulting torrent of ice and debris is believed to have swept approximately 70 kilometers downstream from the Lende River to the Trishuli River, causing the catastrophic flooding.

Some experts have also suggested the disaster may have involved a glacial lake outburst flood — a phenomenon in which a lake formed by melting glaciers acting as a natural dam releases a massive volume of water.

Experts warned that such floods are expected to become more frequent as climate change and global warming continue to accelerate.