China, Nepal race to find thousands still missing 12 days after floods

Rescuers in Nepal are in a desperate race to locate thousands of people still missing after catastrophic floods entered their 12th day near the border with China. The flooding, believed to have been caused by a glacial collapse last month, has resulted in at least 1,384 deaths and left over 5,500 people missing across the two countries, including about 800 foreigners.

In Nepal, rescuers have recovered 1,341 bodies and are searching for approximately 4,996 individuals. In Tibet, the death toll has climbed to 43, with 519 people still unaccounted for, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Four survivors have been found since Friday, three of them in tunnels at hydropower facilities, where the government had initially estimated around 100 people could still be alive.

Nepal's Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha revealed that teams working in the flooded hydropower tunnels face numerous difficulties. On the Chinese side, rescuers contend with deep mud, challenging weather conditions, and the looming threat of additional landslides, which have hampered progress in the narrow gorge. Nepal has formally requested aid from the United Nations-backed Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, a climate emergency mechanism established in 2022 to assist developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The UN has called for $50 million to aid over 84,000 people affected by the floods.