The death toll from Wednesday's flash floods continued to rise on Saturday, with Nepal's disaster agency confirming 675 deaths, up from an earlier estimate of 630.
In addition, authorities in China announced that seven people have died in Tibet, which is controlled by the country.
The number of missing people, according to Nepalese authorities, was 2,426, of whom 517 were foreign nationals. In addition, authorities in India announced that seven bodies had been found in rivers flowing from Nepal - but a link to the disaster has not been established.
Among the missing are more than 100 Nepalese soldiers, police officers and border guards.
An intensive search and rescue operation was underway on Saturday in the affected border area between Nepal and Tibet. In some places, the water rose up to nine metres in half an hour. At least 18 schools, 19 bridges and more than 40 kilometres of road have been destroyed.
"All the houses near the river were swept away. There is nothing left," survivor Buddhi Ram Dangol told AFP in northern Nepal.
Stuck in tunnel
Among those most recently listed as missing are 933 workers at a hydroelectric power plant in Rasuwa. About a hundred of them are trapped in tunnels. Nepal's military is drilling its way through in an "extremely challenging" attempt to reach them. Late Saturday, a breakthrough came in the rescue efforts.
"We have managed to send air through a small opening, and are now starting attempts to dig out the tunnel and send in a rescue team," said Home Minister Sudan Gurung.
A large number of tourists and pilgrims are missing.
According to experts, the sequence of events appears to have started with an ice avalanche on a melting glacier. It was followed by a giant grey-brown flood of water and mud that flowed down the valleys at high speed.
New rains are expected in the Himalayan region where the glacier that triggered the disaster broke loose, raising fears of further flooding. Neighboring India promised on Saturday to increase monitoring of glaciers and glacial lakes in the mountain range, according to AFP.
Billion-dollar bill expected
Over 93,000 people have been affected in some way by the disaster, according to the Red Cross.
The cost of rebuilding the affected area in Nepal is estimated at between $4 billion and $5 billion, reports the Reuters news agency, citing the country's finance minister. The sum corresponds to one-tenth of Nepal's GDP.
