Nepal flood missing surge to 823... death toll reaches 270

[Financial News] The number of people missing after massive flooding struck Nepal's Himalayan region surged to 823 on the second day of the disaster, on the 27th local time.
According to local media outlet Online Khabar and others, Nepal's disaster authorities said 823 people were missing after the large-scale flooding that hit Bagmati Province in the north the previous day. The figure had stood at 484 the day before, but as reports continued to come in, it rose by more than 300 in a single day.
Of the total missing, 517 are foreigners, while more than 200 are Nepalese.
The missing foreigners are believed to be from more than 30 countries, including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Italy and Ukraine. Nine South Koreans from Korea South-East Power Co. and Doosan Enerbility, who were building a hydropower plant in the area, have also lost contact.
Of the 10 other South Koreans from Doosan Enerbility who were believed to be stranded locally, nine were moved to a safe area on the same day.
The remaining one, the site manager from Doosan Enerbility, stayed behind, along with two embassy staff members, including a consul and an administrative officer from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal.
A government joint rapid response team made up of officials from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Police Agency and the National Fire Agency (NFA) departed from Incheon International Airport for Kathmandu on the same day.
As search operations continued, the death toll also rose sharply to 270 from 157 the previous day.
In Gyirong County, Shigatse, in China's Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), a landslide apparently linked to the cause of the flooding also occurred, leaving 3 dead and 558 missing. Among the missing, 260 are foreigners.
The total number of missing in Nepal and Tibet combined now exceeds 1,300.
The flood was believed to have been triggered by the collapse of massive amounts of glacier and rock due to climate change in the Himalayas caused by global warming. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that a quake-like shock occurred as large glaciers and rocks collapsed, and that the resulting glacier collapse and debris flow swept downstream, causing the major flooding.
[email protected] Choi A-young Reporter