On the 28th, the third day since a massive flood struck the Himalayan mountain region on the Nepal-China border, the confirmed death toll stood at 584, according to local time.
According to Reuters and others, Nepal Police said that as of the 26th, 579 people had died in the massive flooding that occurred across the northern Bagmati Province. Including five people killed in successive landslides in Gyirong County, Xigazê City, Tibet, China, the total number of deaths is 584.
The number of missing persons in Nepal also surged to nearly double, from 977 to 1,924. Including 558 people reported missing in Tibet, the total number of missing stands at 2,482.
Among the missing are 517 foreigners from about 30 countries. Nine Korean workers from Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility, who were building a hydropower plant locally, are also out of contact. Considering people not included in Nepal's official tally, it is difficult to gauge the final human toll.
As the scale of damage grew, several countries expressed willingness to help. But Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would accept only cash relief donations and rejected the field deployment of external search teams. Eight countries, including Korea, India, China and the United States, requested to send relief personnel but were turned down.
On the day, Nepal's military authorities were attempting to rescue more than 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at the submerged Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant, the AP reported. The plant, the largest in Nepal, was under construction by workers from Doosan Enerbility and Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN), who are currently out of contact. But thick layers of mud covering the accident site are hampering rescue operations. Nepal Army Spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said, "We deployed two helicopters, but it is difficult even to locate the tunnel entrance."
Nepal's prime minister's office also issued a statement saying, "Despite dangerous conditions due to bad weather, we successfully rescued more than 350 workers and local residents who had been trapped in the tunnel some time ago," adding, "We are still working to evacuate more than 100 people trapped in the tunnel."
By afternoon, Nepal's rescue authorities said they had deployed more than 14,800 security personnel and rescued 3,742 people from flood-hit areas. Of those rescued, 121 are foreigners. They also evacuated 3,253 people by helicopter and said the injured among the survivors were transported to hospitals in Kathmandu and other areas.
That day, a "natural dam lake" formed by debris flow upstream in the Himalayan mountainous area overflowed, and with concerns about a "secondary flood," rescue operations were temporarily halted on both the Nepal and China sides. A Nepal disaster authority official said that of the two lakes formed after a massive debris flow swept over the upper reaches of the Gyirong port area in the Tibet Autonomous Region on the 26th, one overflowed, and that cameras and sensors were being installed downstream and helicopters deployed to continue monitoring water levels.
David Fisher, head of delegation in Nepal for the humanitarian group International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, that day, "At least 93,000 people have been affected," adding, "Urgent help is needed, and we are very concerned about a secondary flood."