Casualties continue to rise after a massive flood swept the Himalayan mountain region straddling the Nepal-China border. On the 29th, the fourth day since the flood, 633 deaths were confirmed in the two countries, and the number of missing people neared 3,000.
According to AP and AFP, Nepal's disaster authorities said that 626 people have died so far from the flood that struck the northern Bagmati Province area on the 26th.
China's toll also grew. In Gyirong County, Xigazê City, Tibet Autonomous Region, near the border, deaths linked to flood-related debris flows increased from five to seven.
As a result, total confirmed deaths in Nepal and China were counted at 633. The death toll, which was 579 as of the previous day, rose by more than 50 in a day as bodies were recovered one after another in Bagmati Province and surrounding areas.
The number of missing is also rising quickly. Nepal's missing climbed by about 500, from 1,924 to 2,426. Adding 554 missing identified in China's Tibet region brings the total number of missing in the two countries to 2,980.
More than 500 of the missing are believed to be foreigners from about 30 countries, including India and the United States.
The fate of nine Koreans also remains unconfirmed. Six Doosan Enerbility employees and three Korea South-East Power (KOEN) employees who had been working at the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant construction site in Nepal have been out of contact since the flood.
The Korean government decided to dispatch an additional joint rapid response team to support the search and rescue of the missing.
A total of nine additional personnel, including one Ministry of Foreign Affairs official and eight from the National Fire Agency, will be sent. They will join the existing 11-member rapid response team that arrived in Nepal on the 27th to support search and rescue operations.
However, as local weather conditions worsened, helicopter search and rescue operations for the missing were temporarily suspended.
Raja Ram Basnet, Spokesperson for the Nepal Army, said helicopter-based rescue operations would be halted until weather conditions improve. Separately, Nepalese authorities are continuing efforts to rescue those believed to be trapped in the flooded tunnel of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant.
Spokesperson Basnet said, "We estimate that more than 100 people are trapped in a mud-filled tunnel," adding, "With mud 1.2–1.5 meters deep and even helicopter landing zones limited, rescue work is difficult."