Nepal buries flood victims as search continues for more than 4,000 missing

Nepal began burying some of the hundreds of bodies recovered after a massive surge swept through the Himalayan region, as desperate families crowded rescue centers and hospitals searching for missing relatives. Others faced the task of identifying bodies in overflowing morgues.

Nepal’s disaster management agency put the death toll on its side of the border at 903 and the number missing at 4,247. Across Nepal and China, the disaster had claimed at least 919 lives. China reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing in Tibet, including tourists and pilgrims traveling toward Mount Kailash.

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We heard a very loud sound... and saw that the turbine floor was submerged in mud, and six workers were trapped there.

The surge struck villages and towns on Wednesday after a glacier collapsed, sending a wall of water and debris downstream, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The flood also formed large lakes, creating additional risks for rescue teams. Chinese rescuers near a Tibetan border crossing were moved to safety on Sunday after a landslide created another lake.

In Nepal, the missing include 933 workers at hydropower facilities. On Sunday, army troops and engineers drilled through debris toward workers believed trapped in a tunnel in a Himalayan river valley after successfully inserting a pipe into the passage. Survivors described the force of the flooding. Surendra Dowluri, a 33-year-old worker from India’s Andhra Pradesh state, said, "We heard a very loud sound... and saw that the turbine floor was submerged in mud, and six workers were trapped there." He said five were rescued, while one died. Authorities were also collecting DNA samples to identify victims as the recovery operation continued.

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We managed to rescue five of them, but one person lost his life.