Glacial flood death toll passes 1,000 as Nepal rescuers pin hopes on blocked tunnels
KATHMANDU — The confirmed death toll from last week's glacial flooding in the Himalayas rose above 1,000 on Tuesday, while rescue teams in Nepal kept digging toward the entrance of debris-choked hydropower tunnels where around 100 workers are still believed to be trapped.
Nepal's Army has reported 987 bodies recovered inside the country, and another 16 deaths have been confirmed on the Chinese side of the border. That puts the overall toll at 1,003, with 4,462 people still listed as missing. In India, at least 17 bodies have been pulled from rivers far downstream.
The disaster began last Wednesday when a mass of ice and rock collapsing at high altitude sent a wall of freezing water, mud and boulders surging down valleys along the Nepal-Tibet border. Entire settlements were erased in minutes. The flood destroyed homes, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure, and triggered a rescue operation that has stretched across two countries.
In Nepal, the immediate focus is on a series of hydropower tunnels in the Trishuli River basin. Soldiers and engineers are drilling, blasting and clearing sludge in difficult terrain, hoping to reach workers who were inside when the surge hit. “We are focused on search and rescue efforts at the tunnels, our work is continuing,” Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said Tuesday. “Our soldiers are also deployed to collect bodies and prevent the spread of disease.”
So far, officials said, no living person has been pulled from the blocked tunnels. Families of the missing have begun to fear the worst.
Outside a Kathmandu hospital, relatives lined up Tuesday to pin photographs of missing family members to a wall. Debu Sapkota, a 58-year-old driver, brought pictures of his 83-year-old mother-in-law and granddaughter, who disappeared in Trishuli Bazaar when the surge swept through the town. A warning alert had sounded, he said, but the older woman could not run. “Her granddaughter was helping her escape but both were swept away,” Sapkota said. “I am here hoping to find their bodies.”
In Chitwan district, mourning relatives cremated victims as soldiers unloaded more bodies from helicopters in Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts. With mortuaries overflowing, authorities have begun burying hundreds of unidentified bodies after taking DNA samples.
Nepal's prime minister described the catastrophe as “unimaginable and heartbreaking,” and warned that rebuilding would require billions of dollars.
For many Nepalis, the destruction has also become a question of fairness. Nepal contributes only a tiny fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet is among the countries most exposed to the effects of a warming planet.
“It is now time for us to strongly raise with the international community the issue of the disasters we are experiencing as a result of climate change,” the prime minister said late Monday.
Scientists have long warned that the Himalayas are warming faster than the global average. As glaciers retreat, they leave behind unstable moraines that can hold back large volumes of meltwater. When those natural dams fail, the resulting floods can move with almost no warning, reshaping valleys in a matter of hours.
The scale of this week's disaster has also raised questions about how development decisions are made in high-risk mountain regions. Nepal has expanded hydropower rapidly to meet chronic power shortages; the tunnels under the Trishuli valley were part of a wave of infrastructure built in narrow gorges where a single flood can overwhelm everything in its path.
Across the border in China, Tibet remains largely closed to independent reporting. Chinese state media said 16 people had died and 546 were missing. Xinhua reported that more than 2,000 rescuers, soldiers and officials were working around the clock to search for survivors, repair roads, restore power lines and set up communication stations. Memorial services were held in Tibetan communities on Tuesday.
Tibetan advocacy groups abroad have questioned China's official account, and the International Campaign for Tibet has urged Beijing to release complete and verifiable information about damage and casualties. China's foreign ministry said Monday that its release of information had been “open, transparent and timely,” and rejected suggestions that the number of dead was being underreported.
Among the missing are foreign nationals from more than 30 countries — 583 in Nepal and 261 in China. They include trekkers who had set out into the Himalayan foothills and pilgrims who had traveled to Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash.
For now, the search in Nepal continues under heavy rain. Aid agencies say the immediate needs are shelter, clean water and medical care in districts where entire communities have been washed away. People who survived the deluge are picking through the debris of their homes, salvaging what they can and stringing plastic sheets over the ruins.
Police officer E. Hawadi, who is stationed in badly hit Nuwakot district, summed up the mood: “There are too many challenges.”