China-Nepal border floods: 2 survivors pulled from rubble near Tibet crossing

Rescue operations are ongoing along the China-Nepal border following devastating floods, as search teams push past the critical 72-hour window for finding survivors. The operation faces immense challenges due to the harsh terrain and the destruction caused by mudslides.

In a glimmer of hope, two villagers were rescued from rubble near the Gyirong border checkpoint in Tibet in the early hours of Saturday. However, the checkpoint building itself was completely obliterated by a mudslide, leaving no sign of survivors at that specific location. Liu Maolin, the rescue team leader, confirmed the extent of the destruction.

The scale of the disaster is immense. On the Tibetan side of the border, seven people have been confirmed dead, with a staggering 544 individuals still missing. In Nepal, the situation is even more dire, with over 610 confirmed fatalities and more than 2,400 people unaccounted for.

Rescue teams are battling difficult conditions, including warnings from China's Meteorological Administration about potential light rainfall and low temperatures as low as 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) in the affected Gyirong county over the next three days. Adding to the peril, an advance team of firefighters was forced to retreat to a safe zone on Friday night due to an urgent warning that a glacial lake, formed after the collapse that triggered the floods, was on the verge of breaching.

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the checkpoint building had been completely destroyed by a mudslide.