Sindhuli, Nepal/Beijing (EFE).- Rescue teams continued their efforts on Thursday amid great difficulty following the massive flooding along the Nepal-Tibet Autonomous Region border in China.
The combined provisional death toll on both sides of the border is 392, with about 1,400 people still missing. There are fears that the Bhote Koshi River could rise again.
Amid ambulances, military vehicles, and rescue helicopters in the vicinity of ground zero, hundreds of family members await news of their missing loved ones in the mountainous area, a gateway and pilgrimage site to the Himalayas.
In Nepal, rescue teams have recovered 389 bodies, according to the latest police report. Many of the bodies were swept downstream for dozens of kilometers.
On the Tibetan side, three deaths have been confirmed, and 558 people remain unaccounted for.
According to the latest update from Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), at least 910 people are «unaccounted for» or missing, including 517 foreign nationals, 127 Nepalis living abroad who were visiting the country, 85 members of the security and customs forces, and dozens of residents.
The Spanish government confirmed that there are four Spaniards among the foreigners, although the Nepalese authorities report three. There are also 178 Indians, 65 Americans, 53 Ukrainians, 35 Australians, and 33 British nationals, as well as 30 people from other nationalities.
According to the latest report from the NDRRMA, the nearly 13,300 deployed personnel have rescued 796 people by helicopter and 756 by land. Among those rescued are 31 foreigners.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources identified the cause as the collapse of a large mass of ice on a Nepalese glacier at an altitude between 5,200 and 5,500 meters. The aforementioned triggered a 5.2-magnitude seismic event due to the avalanche’s force.
The avalanche reportedly plunged over 1,000 meters down the Lhende Khola basin, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi, sweeping up rocks and other debris until it became a mudslide.
In just seven minutes, the mudslide traveled about 20 kilometers (12 miles), sweeping through the Gyirong border crossing (southwest of Tibet) and entering Nepal.
Tourist destination and disputed area
The disaster struck a high mountain area in Nepal’s Rasuwa District, near the Gyirong border crossing, a key corridor between Nepal and Tibet.
Routes to Lhasa and Mount Everest begin there, as do pilgrimage routes to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, which are sacred sites in Hinduism.
Tibet is an autonomous region in southwestern China that has been under Beijing’s control since the 1950s. Its political, cultural, and religious situation has been criticized by some countries, including the US, as well as the European Union, the United Nations, and human rights organizations, who call for the protection of the Tibetan people’s rights and freedoms.
International solidarity continues
Expressions of solidarity from leaders around the world were joined by the words of the Pope, who expressed his “most sincere condolences” to the families of the victims. The Dalai Lama is also praying “for all those who have lost their lives.”
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, fled to India in 1959 following an unsuccessful uprising against Beijing’s control. China labels him a separatist leader and maintains that Tibet is an inalienable part of its territory.
According to data cited by the World Health Organization, approximately 10,000 households in Nepal, particularly those in areas near Rasuwa, need urgent assistance.EFE
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