The latest figures released on Friday afternoon on the rising number of victims after the flood came from Nepal's disaster management agency, which said a total of 1,924 people were missing, of whom 517 are foreign nationals and 933 are workers at hydroelectric power plants on the rivers affected on Wednesday.
The first Chinese rescue workers reached the hardest-hit area on Friday. Infrastructure, water pipes and villages have been destroyed, and rescue workers are searching for survivors in border areas.
Enormous trauma
The trauma caused by the floods is “enormous,” the Red Cross says. Estimates suggest that 93,000 people have been affected.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) fears that the death toll will continue to rise.
"Due to washed away roads and bridges and disruptions in both mobile phone coverage and electricity, we have not yet been able to reach some of the hardest-hit areas," says David Fisher, IFRC's Head of Delegation for Nepal.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said on X that the UN is "working at high speed to save lives."
New rains are expected in the area of Tibet where the glacier that triggered the disaster broke loose and formed a lake of debris and mud. However, the risk of the mud lake overflowing has decreased.
“Compared with the high water level early on the morning of August 27, the lake's water level has dropped by about ten metres, and the risk is gradually decreasing,” reports the CCTV television channel.
It is unclear whether the information applies to the water accumulation where a dam, according to Nepalese authorities, burst on Friday. Nepalese police have urged rescue workers to seek safety.
100 stuck in tunnel
Rescue operations are underway in several locations in the disaster area. A few kilometres south, the military is trying to rescue around 100 people trapped in a tunnel at a hydroelectric power plant. 350 people have already been rescued from the area.
"Two helicopters have been sent out. But it is challenging because it is difficult to even locate the entrances to the tunnel. Efforts are also underway to provide those rescued with what they need," said Raja Ram Basnet, a military spokesman.
Dev Shrestha, who was rescued by helicopter at another dam site along the flooded valley of the Trishuli River, recounts what he saw there.
There were at least 400 workers at the site. More people died than were saved, he says.
