Nepal-China border floods: Rescue efforts enter fourth day as toll nears 700, over 3,000 missing

Rescue operations in communities devastated by catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-China border entered their fourth day on Saturday, with authorities continuing to locate survivors and evacuate people from the worst-hit areas.

Families of those still missing gathered at relief centres and hospitals, anxiously waiting for any information as the death toll and number of people unaccounted for continued to climb.

The combined death toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 691, while more than 3,000 people remained missing, following China’s latest update. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, while Nepal’s disaster agency said late Saturday that 675 people had died and 2,498 remained unaccounted for.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far.

In Nuwakot, one of the districts hardest hit by the floods, helicopters delivered relief supplies including clothes, instant noodles, crackers and rice, while others returned carrying survivors from devastated communities.

An elderly man was carefully helped from one helicopter, while a soldier carried an elderly woman on his back to a medical tent. Most evacuees arrived with little more than the clothes they were wearing. Soldiers also carried several babies who had been evacuated from the nearby community of Trishuli.

Villagers return to destroyed homes

As evacuations continued in Trishuli, some residents returned to their homes to search for anything that could be salvaged.

A young boy was seen leaving the village carrying a pair of muddy sandals from his home. Another resident, Shoba Shretha, returned to look for Sweetie, her dog, which she had been forced to leave behind as the floods approached. She eventually found the animal, sitting on the ground to pet it and give it water from a bottle.

Relief coordinators later cleared villagers, volunteers and journalists from the entrance to Trishuli as excavation machinery moved into the flooded settlement to begin digging operations.

Families desperately search for missing relatives

In Kathmandu, relatives and friends gathered outside the capital’s main government hospital, searching desperately for information about loved ones who had disappeared in the floods.

Many moved between help desks and hospital notice boards, carrying photographs and checking lists of injured people in the hope of finding relatives alive.

Dil Maya Lama travelled about 130 kilometres from Ramechhap to search for her missing 26-year-old brother, a driver working for a hydropower company in Rasuwa.

“I came here with the hope that I might find him,” she said. “There is no information about him.”

Nelza Moktan was also searching for a cousin who worked as a driver in Rasuwa.

“I feel hopeless. It has already been four days,” she said.

Families covered hospital walls with posters carrying photographs, names and contact details of missing relatives, hoping someone could provide a clue about their whereabouts.

Missing-person lists offer a desperate glimmer of hope

In Nuwakot, military personnel pasted sheets listing dozens of missing people on the walls of a relief centre. Families crowded around the lists, scanning names, photographing the pages and wiping away tears.

Rajesh Kumar Ram searched desperately for his son.

“I’m hopeful, by chance, that my son is somewhere,” he said through tears. “Maybe they find him stuck somewhere. I’m waiting for that moment only.”

Outside, mud-covered roads remained littered with evidence of the destruction. A truck lay stranded in thick mud with its cargo bed raised into the air.

Priti Kharel stood outside an army barracks holding a poster of her brother, Milan Kharel, an engineering geologist working for Doosan Enerbility. His family has not heard from him since the floods.

“It’s already four days,” Kharel said, expressing fears that her brother could be trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower construction site where rescuers have already pulled out several people.

“We want the government to rescue him as soon as possible,” she said.

Rescuers race against time

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

Nepali Army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet said rescue teams would continue working at the hydropower site, where more than 100 people are feared trapped inside a tunnel filled with thick mud.

Authorities have also remained alert to the threat posed by a newly formed lake high in the Himalayas after debris blocked a river during the initial flooding.

Monitoring data from China’s Ministry of Water Resources showed the lake had shrunk significantly by late Friday, with its water level falling about 10 metres from its peak on Thursday morning, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

CCTV footage on Saturday showed rescuers reaching the devastated Gyirong Port, where they shouted for survivors. It remained unclear how many people were inside the border checkpoint building when the floods struck.

Hundreds of foreigners remain missing

Among those missing are hundreds of foreign nationals who had travelled to the region for work, trekking or pilgrimage.

Chinese state media reported Sunday that 261 foreigners were among the missing, including 104 Nepalis, 49 Indians, 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 Britons, along with several dozen people from other countries.

Difficult terrain hampers rescue operations

Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the government had mobilised all available resources, with international assistance, for search, rescue, relief and recovery operations.

“ This is currently our national priority,” he told reporters.

Khanal said rescue teams were facing major challenges because of the region’s steep mountains, narrow gorges and difficult terrain.

Nepal has sought specialised assistance from neighbouring countries for tunnel rescues, survivor-detection technology, rapid forensic and DNA analysis, and refrigerated morgue facilities.

An 11-member tunnel-rescue reconnaissance team from India has been deployed, while a similar team from China is expected to arrive soon, Khanal said.

Nepal has received more than 57 metric tonnes of relief supplies from India, with additional assistance arriving from China, Japan, Australia and other countries. The government will seek further international support as assessments of the needs on the ground continue.