750 Dead or Missing in Nepal and China as Second Flood Alert Issued

[Financial News] Four days after a major flood hit the valley on the Nepal-China border, river levels rose again, increasing the risk of a second flood. Local authorities asked rescue teams to remain especially vigilant.
According to AFP, Nepal's disaster management authority said in an alert issued at 7:20 a.m. on the 30th that it had received information that the flow of the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa District, Bagmati Province, in central Nepal, had increased further.
The authority stressed that all personnel involved in search, rescue and relief operations, as well as residents along the river and people in affected areas including Rasuwa District, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitwan District, should exercise extreme caution.
A massive flood struck parts of Bagmati Province in Nepal, near the border with China, around 8:37 a.m. on the 26th. Experts said melting Himalayan glaciers collapsed and swept through the valley with mud and debris. As of the 30th, Nepal had recorded 734 dead and 2,498 missing.
The flood also triggered large-scale landslides on the Chinese side. According to Xinhua News Agency, 16 people had died and 546 were missing in Gyirong County, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, as of the 30th. Combined, the death toll and missing persons on both sides reached 750 and 3,044, respectively.
Rescue teams in both countries have been carrying out large-scale operations for four days, but the rugged terrain in the affected areas has made the work difficult. On the 28th, a "natural dam lake" formed by mud and rocks blocking a river overflowed upstream of Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, briefly halting rescue efforts and prompting evacuation orders.
According to CCTV, the Information Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Government held a press conference in Gyirong on the 30th and said, "The natural dam formed upstream of the key border gate area has already overflowed and is draining," adding that "the overall situation is currently stable." It also said the chance of a complete collapse of the natural dam was relatively low.
Meanwhile, the Bhotekoshi River mentioned by Nepalese authorities on the 30th is an upstream water system that flows from Tibet into Rasuwa District in Nepal, joins the Langtang Khola, and then continues into the Trishuli River. The intake dam of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, where nine South Korean employees are believed to be missing, is located about 275 meters downstream from the confluence of the Bhotekoshi River and the Langtang Khola. The Bhotekoshi River and the site where the South Koreans went missing are geographically very close and belong to the same river system.
[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter