China has paused rescue work at the epicentre of the catastrophic flooding in Tibet this week amid fears that a lake formed at the site was at risk of bursting, as the overall death toll in Nepal rose to 469 people, with more than 1,300 missing. A lake formed by immense piles of debris has begun overflowing towards the area where rescue teams were headed, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday. Emergency teams that had earlier accessed the area “have been ordered to withdraw one kilometre,” the broadcaster added.
The lake formed after a wall of mud and debris hit the border hub of Gyirong in Tibet on Wednesday, causing catastrophic flash floods that thundered down valleys and obliterated entire villages. The international community is scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet but search and rescue efforts – including for hundreds of tourists – have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and miles of roads in the mountainous region, which is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. More than 500 foreign citizens were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials said.
Among those unaccounted for were 177 from India, 90 from the US, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada. Chinese state media said at least 558 were missing on the Tibet side of the border, of whom at least 260 were foreign nationals. Scant information has emerged from Chinese authorities about the scale of the destruction.
Tibet is the most tightly controlled part of China even under normal circumstances. Only brief, state-controlled media reports about the floods have been allowed to circulate in China and the authorities have confirmed only three deaths there. Chinese reports have focused on rescue efforts.
In Nepal, army helicopter rescue teams were working on Friday to rescue about 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by the devastating flood. Relief efforts are also under way to provide the rescued people what they need.” The prime minister’s office said the army was working in tough conditions and had already rescued 350 workers and local people who were trapped in the tunnel amid the risky conditions. Rescue teams have reported finding bodies hundreds of miles downstream from the disaster zone in the Chitwan district of Nepal, near the Tibetan border.
Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for advanced medical care and more than 100 people were rescued by Nepali army personnel in helicopters. Chinese broadcaster CCTV said water levels at the lake in the centre were expected to rise over the next three days due to continued rainfall, peaking around Tuesday. This increases “the risk of a breach that could send flood waters downstream and potentially cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and elsewhere downstream”, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Thursday.
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