- 586 Bodies Recovered as Nepal and China Intensify Search; Survivors Face Devastating Loss and Uncertainty
NUWAKOT, Nepal: Rescue teams in Nepal and China continued a desperate search on Saturday for thousands of people still missing after a devastating, tsunami-like surge of water, ice, mud and debris swept through Himalayan communities, destroying villages and claiming hundreds of lives.
The number of people reported missing rose above 2,400 on Friday, while emergency authorities said 586 bodies had been recovered. Some victims were carried downstream into India, highlighting the extraordinary scale and force of the disaster.
Nepal’s disaster management authorities added 933 hydropower workers to the missing-persons list in a region home to major energy infrastructure projects. The list also includes trekkers, pilgrims and visitors traveling toward Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.
For survivors, the catastrophe has brought unimaginable grief and uncertainty. Entire communities have been swept away, homes destroyed and families separated, leaving thousands facing the painful prospect of rebuilding their lives from almost nothing.
“All the settlements near the river were swept away. There is nothing left,” survivor Buddhi Ram Dangol told AFP.
For Samjhana Thing, the disaster has brought days of agonizing uncertainty as she waits for news of her missing brother.
“We don’t know anything. Hopefully he is in a safe place,” she said.
‘Enormous’ Humanitarian Trauma
The Red Cross described the human impact of Wednesday’s catastrophe as “enormous,” estimating that as many as 93,000 people may have been affected. Authorities fear the death toll could rise further as rescue teams reach remote and severely damaged areas.
Emergency workers have been racing against time to locate survivors, while shortages of food and drinking water are becoming increasingly serious in devastated communities.
The rescue effort has also been complicated by the threat of further flooding. The enormous volume of ice, mud and debris created temporary lakes in several locations, with at least one posing a direct danger to rescue personnel searching for survivors.
Nepali police urged rescuers to immediately move to safer locations after receiving information that another water barrier had burst on the Tibetan side of the border.
In Tibet, Chinese authorities temporarily suspended rescue operations in the hardest-hit area of Gyirong because of renewed flooding concerns. Beijing later said the immediate threat had eased. China’s state news agency Xinhua reported early Saturday that two villagers had been rescued in the area.
Hydropower Workers Trapped
On the Nepali side, military rescue teams located workers trapped inside a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project and began efforts to reach them.
“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.
Around 350 workers and residents have already been brought to safety from the site, while rescue operations continued for more than 100 people believed to remain trapped in the area.
Workers rescued from other hydropower projects along the Trishuli Valley described a disaster that struck with terrifying speed.
Buddha Tamang, who survived after taking shelter inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked, said many colleagues had no chance to escape.
“The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away,” Tamang told AFP after being airlifted to safety following more than 24 hours stranded at the site.
Nepal reported 579 deaths on Friday. The country’s disaster authority said 1,924 people, including 517 foreigners, remained out of contact, a sharp increase from the previous figure of 977.
Bodies Recovered in India as Tibet Reports Heavy Losses
The disaster has also affected communities and waterways beyond Nepal.
Indian authorities said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be victims of the flooding.
Across the border in Tibet, where access for foreign journalists remains highly restricted, Xinhua reported that seven people had died and 554 remained missing as of early Saturday.
Chinese authorities also reported evacuating 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from affected areas of Tibet.
Pilgrims Caught in the Disaster
Among those still missing are Hindu pilgrims from several countries who were traveling toward Mount Kailash, one of the world’s most revered pilgrimage destinations.
Sivaranjani Muthunathan, 46, was traveling by bus with 56 other people toward the Chinese border when their journey suddenly turned into a fight for survival.
At first, the group believed they were caught in an ordinary traffic jam. Then the situation changed dramatically.
“Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” Muthunathan told AFP, showing a video she recorded as a torrent of water and debris surged toward the bus.
Vehicles around them were swept away or buried beneath mud.
Muthunathan said the passengers eventually escaped through the driver’s side of the bus before scrambling up a nearby hill to escape the rushing floodwaters.
A Region Gripped by Grief
As rescue teams continue their dangerous search across Nepal and Tibet, thousands of families remain trapped in uncertainty, waiting for news of loved ones.
The disaster has left behind destroyed villages, damaged infrastructure and shattered communities, while survivors face the enormous challenge of finding shelter, food and water—and beginning their lives again after one of the Himalayas’ most devastating recent catastrophes.
BY: The Times Union
