Live updates: Death toll rises and thousands still missing in Nepal and China after catastrophic floods
Key Points:
- Over 930 workers remain missing at multiple hydropower projects in Nepal's flood zone following catastrophic flooding along the China-Nepal border, with rescue teams working tirelessly to locate survivors inside tunnel networks, particularly at the Trishuli-3A site.
- The floods have caused extensive loss of life and property, displacing families and destroying homes, with many survivors living in makeshift shelters and facing ongoing fears of further flooding and disease outbreaks due to contaminated water sources.
- Scientific analysis attributes the disaster to a massive glacier collapse combined with a landslide, generating a powerful surge of ice, water, and debris that caused widespread destruction and was equivalent to a 5.2-magnitude earthquake.
- Rescue efforts are supported by international teams from China and India, who have joined Nepalese authorities in drilling tunnels and pumping air into flooded hydropower project tunnels in hopes of reaching trapped workers.
- Authorities remain vigilant about the risk of additional flooding from newly formed barrier lakes near the disaster site, with continuous monitoring and high alert measures in place to prevent further catastrophe downstream.