Missing Tourists Found Alive; Nepal Toll Tops 1,100
Missing Tourists Found Alive; Nepal Toll Tops 1,100
The News
Some foreign tourists reported missing in Nepal's catastrophic flash floods have turned up alive and contacted authorities, officials said Wednesday — a rare piece of good news in a disaster that has now killed at least 1,118 people.
More than 3,900 people remain missing a week after the floods began on Aug. 26, according to the Associated Press.
Nepal's Foreign Ministry said 324 foreign nationals have been rescued so far, while roughly 590 people from 39 countries are still listed as missing.
Families of Nepalis still unaccounted for held symbolic funerals Wednesday for loved ones they no longer expect to see.
Timeline
A glacial collapse in the Himalayas sends rock, ice and meltwater crashing into nearby valleys. Rivers in Tibet and Nepal rise fast, sweeping away homes, buildings, roads and bridges and carrying mud and rock downstream.
China reports 16 deaths and 546 people missing on its side of the border.
Nepali army personnel work search and rescue near the Trishuli Hydropower Project site in Rasuwa district, according to Reuters imagery.
Nepal's toll passes 1,100. Australia says five more of its citizens are safe. Chinese crews finish a temporary road to the disaster zone at the border. Symbolic funerals are held.
Reactions
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday the number of Australians reported missing had dropped from 43 to 38 after five were confirmed safe overnight.
"Amidst all of this tragedy, we are seeing some positive news. Today, another five Australians have been confirmed safe," Albanese told reporters in Palau, where he was attending a regional summit. "We hope, of course, for positive news further, and we're doing everything we can to work with authorities."
Sunil Sharma, a spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Board, said at least five other foreign tourists previously listed as missing had reached authorities by phone or email in recent days.
The Daily Mail reported four more Australians were found alive after the disaster.
What's Next
Search and rescue teams are still working, and the missing count of more than 3,900 means the death toll is likely to keep climbing.
Chinese rescue teams have built a temporary road to reach the disaster area around Gyirong Port on the Nepal-China border, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported Wednesday. The road lets heavy machinery in to help with the search. The border crossing complex itself was swept away, and the roads leading to it were destroyed and buried under water, mud and rock.
Expect the foreign-national tally to keep shifting as more of the 590 still listed as missing from 39 countries check in — or are found.
More
The chain of events started high in the mountains, not in a storm: a glacier gave way, and the water and debris it released did the rest. That is the same failure mode disaster officials have been warning about across the Himalayas as ice retreats.
Sources: Associated Press, CTV News, The Washington Times, Daily Mail.
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