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🇸🇬 Singapore /Disasters & Emergencies

Nepal buries victims as rescuers search for thousands still missing

From The Straits Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Nepal began burying victims after a glacial collapse sent a wall of water, ice, rocks and debris through villages in Nepal and Tibet on Aug. 26.
  • At least 797 people have died across the two regions, while 3,048 remain missing, including tourists, pilgrims and hydropower workers.
  • Rescuers continue searching debris and tunnels, but rain, rising rivers and newly formed lakes have hampered operations.

Nepal began burying some of the hundreds of bodies recovered from a devastating flood, even as families crowded rescue stations and hospitals searching for missing relatives. Others faced the task of identifying bodies in overflowing morgues.

The disaster struck on Aug. 26 when a glacial collapse sent a massive wall of water, ice, rocks and debris through villages and towns in Nepal and Tibet. At least 797 people died across the border regions, and reports suggested some bodies may have been carried downstream as far as India.

Authorities listed 3,048 people as missing, including tourists and pilgrims visiting Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash. In Nepal, 933 workers at hydropower plants were also unaccounted for. Army troops and engineers drilled through debris toward workers believed trapped in a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site after inserting a pipe into the passage.

We heard a very loud sound... and saw that the turbine floor was submerged with slush, and six workers were stuck in that.

— Surendra DowluriThe rescued hydropower worker described the flood at the Upper Trishuli-1 site.

Surendra Dowluri, a 33-year-old worker from India’s Andhra Pradesh state, described the moment floodwater hit the Upper Trishuli-1 site. “We heard a very loud sound... and saw that the turbine floor was submerged with slush, and six workers were stuck in that,” he told AFP after his rescue. “We managed to rescue five of them, but one person lost his life.”

Rain and swollen rivers flooded an excavation area and slowed the rescue effort before conditions improved. Newly formed lakes also created fresh risks. Chinese rescuers near a Tibet border port damaged by a mudslide moved to safety after a landslide created another lake. China reported 16 deaths and 546 missing in Tibet, while Nepal’s disaster agency reported 781 confirmed deaths and 2,502 missing on its side of the border. With morgues overwhelmed and freezing facilities inadequate, officials began taking DNA samples and burying some victims before identification was complete.

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

— Surendra DowluriDowluri recounted the fate of workers caught in the flood.
About this summary

Originally published by The Straits Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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