Get you up to speed: More than 600 dead in Nepal as UK support teams arrive to support flooding victims | News World
Catastrophic flash floods in Nuwakot district, Nepal, have resulted in at least 626 confirmed deaths, with nearly 2,500 individuals reported missing. Among the missing are more than 30 British nationals, part of the broader search and rescue efforts being undertaken by Nepali and Chinese authorities.
Rescue operations are ongoing, with more than 3,700 people rescued on the Nepalese side since the disaster began. The British government has dispatched £5 million in humanitarian aid and a team of specially trained crisis response staff to assist in the recovery efforts.
Nepal’s government is coordinating rescue and relief efforts as the death toll from the flash floods rises to 626, with nearly 2,500 individuals still missing, prompting ongoing searches for survivors. The UK government has dispatched crisis response staff and £5 million in humanitarian aid, while warnings remain in place regarding a newly formed lake at high altitude that may overflow, complicating rescue operations.
What remains unclear — The exact number of British nationals among the missing remains unspecified amid ongoing rescue efforts.
More than 600 people dead in Nepal as UK teams arrive to assist flood victims
Residents return to their houses to assess the damage following flash flooding in Nuwakot district in Nepal (Picture: AP)
More than 600 people have been killed in catastrophic flash floods in Nepal, as searches for nearly 2,500 missing entered a fourth day.
As of this morning, Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed the death toll had increased to 626, with 2,426 people still reported missing, including hundreds of foreigners who were in the area for work, leisure or pilgrimage.
Poor weather on Saturday hampered the rescue effort, with crews working around the clock having pulled some survivors from the mud.
More than 30 British nationals are among those unaccounted for following the natural disaster in the Rasuwa district, which borders China’s Tibet autonomous region.
Soldiers carry relief supplies including food and clothes onto a rescue helicopter for stranded survivors following flooding in Nepal’s Nuwakot district (Picture: AP)
Excavators clear a road hit by a mudslide in China’s Tibet autonomous region (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
Sign up for all of the latest stories
They are thought to include two teenagers, a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.
A team of specially trained crisis response staff from the UK are arriving in Nepal, alongside £5million in humanitarian support sent by the British government.
Some 3,700 people have been rescued so far on the Nepalese side following the glacier collapse.
However rescuers remain on high alert, amid warnings that a new lake formed at high altitude in the Himalayas may be on the verge of overflowing.
The lake has reduced in depth by 10 metres from when it peaked on Thursday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Helicopters are continuing to bring in essential aid, including clothes and food essentials such as rice, crackers and instant noodles.
Armed police search a disaster site with sniffer dogs in Devighat, Nuwakot district in Nepal (Picture: Reuters)
Among the evacuated were several young babies, carried to safety in the arms of soldiers.
Most of those rescued were only carrying the clothes they were wearing and, in some cases, a small plastic bag.
In Nuwakot, one of the communities deeply affected by the flooding, a list of dozens of missing people was pinned to the wall of a relief centre.
Essex nurse Rajendra Pudasaini, president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association UK, said his relatives had been ‘swept away’ by the floods.
He said the country was paying the price for global warming and that the disaster had wreaked an ‘irreplaceable loss’ on communities.
A man pasting photos of missing relatives on the wall of a university in Kathmandu (Picture: EPA)
Some nine British nationals were thought to be on a trekking tour in the Himalayas when the flood broke out.
Nepalese tour operator The Trekkers’ Society said four British men, aged 14, 50, 50 and 54, and five British women, aged 40, 46, 50, 50 and 53 were still unaccounted for.
Another operator, Kailash Journeys, said seven British nationals who were travelling with the company remain missing, including two men and five women aged between 18 and 55.
In a statement the FCDO said: ‘FCDO said: “British nationals in Nepal should follow local authority advice and exercise caution while travelling.
‘For consular assistance call (+44) (0)207 008 5000 or (+977) (0)14237100.’
Comment now
Comments
Add WTX as a Preferred Source on Google