The death toll from last week’s Himalayan floods has risen to 626 and the number of people unaccounted for has passed 2,400, as rescuers in Nepal and Tibet continued searching on Saturday for survivors of the wall of water and debris that swept through the region on Wednesday last week.
Nepal police gave the 626 figure, Ada Derana reported, citing AFP. Hiru News carried the same count, describing it as a significant jump from the previous update of 579.
The missing figure moved for an administrative reason
The jump in the missing count needs reading carefully. Nepal’s disaster authority now lists 1,924 people as out of contact, including 517 foreigners, against a previous figure of 977. Almost all of that increase — 933 people — came from a single addition: hydropower workers placed on a list that had until then covered mainly trekkers and pilgrims travelling to Mount Kailash in Tibet.
Adding Tibet’s 554 missing brings the regional total to roughly 2,478. The rise therefore reflects a category of worker being counted for the first time rather than 947 people going missing overnight.
The counts still do not agree
Three sets of figures remain in circulation. Nepal police put the dead at 626. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 579 killed and about 4,000 rescued in a release issued two hours earlier. Emergency teams separately said they had recovered 586 bodies.
Tibet’s numbers shifted in a way worth noting. Chinese authorities now report seven dead and 554 missing, against three dead and 558 missing on Friday. The combined total is unchanged at 561 — four people previously listed as missing were confirmed dead, rather than four new casualties occurring.
Seven bodies recovered in India’s Uttar Pradesh fall outside all of these counts.
Tunnel rescue at Trishuli 3A
Nepal’s military located people trapped inside the tunnel of the Trishuli 3A hydropower project. “Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP. About 350 workers and residents have been brought out, with more than 100 still trapped.
Rescue work remains hazardous. Nepali police told teams to “immediately move to a safe location” after receiving information that a water dam had burst again on the Tibetan side. Beijing suspended operations at Gyirong before saying the risk had eased.
The Red Cross said the trauma has been “enormous” and that as many as 93,000 people may have been affected, with the toll expected to rise.
Sri Lanka has pledged USD 1 million in assistance and has reported no Sri Lankan casualties.
