Fifteen British nationals are reported to be missing in China as the search continues for survivors of the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet. Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods brought upon by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border.
The 15 missing British people are among 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries missing in China, according to figures released by Chinese authorities, bringing the total of missing Britons between Tibet and Nepal to 48. The Tibet autonomous region’s government said the total missing there also included 104 Nepalis, 49 people from India, 33 from Latvia and 18 from the US. Thirty-three British people had already been declared missing on the Nepal side of the border.
Some were on a pilgrimage at the time of the flood, including Hemangini Jitendra Patel and Hema Sunil Amin, two sisters who were last seen on the Friendship Bridge on the border. The figure for missing Americans has been disputed by the US state department, which declared on Sunday that at least 85 US citizens were missing. The department’s spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, said getting accurate information from the region had been difficult, “made even more so by the devastation and the remoteness that we see”.
Chinese authorities have said at least 16 people have died on their side of the border. But there are concerns over a possible lack of transparency from the Chinese government, which has prevented footage of the floods from being shared in the countryand may have downplayed the casualties. Police in Nepal said 794 people had been confirmed to have died there and at least 2,742 injured.
Numerous areas remain at risk of fresh flooding and people who have returned to their homes have been told to remain alert and be prepared to evacuate again at short notice. Rescue efforts have been affected by the threat of landslides and dangerous weather as well as confusion over which side of the border victims had been on when the waters struck. Chinese state television reported that officials in Beijing, far better resourced than their Nepalese counterparts, had mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated more than 220m yuan (£24m) to support relief efforts.
Equipment and supplies have been airdropped to frontline workers, while Chinese soldiers used life-detection equipment to look for the missing, CCTV said. The Chinese premier, Li Qiang, had already travelled to the region. Numerous countries have pledged to help Nepal, including the US which has offered $3.6m in humanitarian aid, “including up to three months of emergency food assistance to up to 10,000 flood-affected households”, on top of $500,000 previously pledged, and Australia, which will donate more than $3m in assistance.
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