Rescuers search for thousands missing after floods at Nepal-China border

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Poor weather hampered aerial rescue operations in Nepal on Saturday as the search for thousands of missing people in areas devastated by catastrophic flash floods along the border with China entered its fourth day.

Rescue workers and military personnel have been working around the clock since Wednesday’s disaster, which killed more than 600 people and left about 3,000 missing. Some survivors have been pulled from the mud, while crews continue searching several locations for those still missing.

But Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, a Nepali Army spokesperson, said Saturday that helicopter operations were on hold until weather conditions improved.

Search and rescue efforts continued at several locations in Nepal and China’s Tibet, including the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Nepal’s Rasuwa district and the severely damaged Gyirong border crossing on the Chinese side.

Nepali Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said rescue efforts would continue at the hydropower construction site, where authorities believe more than 100 people are trapped in a tunnel filled with thick mud.

Basnet said rescuers had used baskets and ropes to reach some people, but the operation remained difficult because of 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) of mud and the limited number of places where helicopters could land.

He said rescue teams had also been forced to relocate temporarily when authorities issued warnings about possible further flooding.

Rescuers have been on high alert for more flooding from a new lake that formed high up in the Himalayan mountains after the initial floods Wednesday. Experts warned that the lake, created after a glacier collapse that triggered the floods, was starting to overflow.

Monitoring data from the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources showed late Friday that the lake had dwindled in size. The water level dropped by 10 meters (32 feet) from the high point on Thursday morning, Chinese broadcaster CCTV said.

Aid trucks could be seen traveling from Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, toward the affected areas.

Families anxiously await news of missing loved ones

In Nuwakot, one of the Nepali districts devastated by the floods, people waited anxiously Saturday for word about missing loved ones.

At a relief center, military personnel taped sheets of paper listing dozens of missing people to a wall, prompting families to crowd around and search for their relatives.

Some scanned the lists, took photos and wiped away tears as they looked through the names.

Search continues at devastated China-Nepal border crossing

The broadcaster was showing Saturday images of rescuers getting to Gyirong Port, the hard-hit border crossing with Nepal. Some reached the area by foot and via rafts. Some were dropped down from drones flown to the area. “Anyone, anyone?” rescuers yelled, according to footage by the broadcaster.

It was not immediately known how many people were at the border checkpoint building when the floods hit.

On Saturday, Nepal’s disaster agency said the death toll had climbed to 626 with 2,426 people missing in the country. There was little information on survivors on the Chinese side, where the death toll rose to seven Friday as state media showed evacuations of villages and leaders’ efforts to direct the relief response.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far. China’s state media said 554 people were missing on the Chinese side. Hundreds of the missing are foreigners who were in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak.

___

Milko reported from Nuwakot, Nepal. Associated Press journalists Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru, India; Upendra Mansingh in Nuwakot district, Nepal; Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India; and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

Shristi Kafle And Victoria Milko, The Associated Press