China restores road access to Tibet disaster zone as search intensifies

Heavy machinery has reached the core of Tibet’s flood disaster zone after China reopened the only road leading to the Gyirong border crossing into Nepal. The G216 national highway had been torn apart when debris flows washed away sections of the road following a glacier collapse on August 26.

Rescue crews worked around the clock to rebuild the route through a narrow mountain gorge between unstable cliffs and a fast-flowing river. Persistent rain and difficult terrain slowed the work. Authorities also monitored upstream lakes that could have caused further flooding if they burst, although the risk from those lakes has diminished.

Before the highway reopened on Wednesday, China airdropped equipment and supplies to frontline rescuers. Soldiers used life-detection devices to search for missing people, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Large numbers of heavy machines have now arrived at the site of the former Chinese border inspection complex.

Multiple rescue teams and excavators are conducting intensive searches. Crews with life-detection equipment and search dogs have been deployed along the hardest-hit parts of the crossing area, riverbanks, ravines and damaged road corridors. Landslides remain a concern, Chinese authorities said.

China reported on Sunday that 546 people remained unaccounted for in Tibet, including 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries. The reported death toll there stood at 16, while Nepal’s death toll crossed 1,000 on Wednesday.