Devastating floods near the border with China have killed at least 903 people in Nepal, while the number of missing in the country has soared to 4,247, its disaster authority said on Monday, as rescue efforts entered a sixth day.
Chinese state media earlier confirmed 16 dead and 546 people missing in Tibet following Wednesday's disaster, taking the overall toll to 919 dead and 4,793 missing.
Nepal's list of the missing includes 592 foreigners.
It also includes 933 workers on hydropower projects along the river which the torrent crashed through, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Nepal's disaster agency listed 3,655 missing citizens in its update on Monday morning.
That includes Nuwakot district, where the missing rose sharply to 1,158, up from 115 reported on Sunday, as well as a further 562 unaccounted for in Rasuwa district.
The missing include 45 Nepali army soldiers, 38 police and armed police officers, and 19 customs and immigration officers.
In India, authorities in Uttar Pradesh state said they had recovered 17 bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.
Indian authorities are seeking to identify the bodies, and they are not included in the toll.
Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal’s army spokesman, said authorities intensified their rescue efforts in the disaster zones.
“We are working in search and rescue of the stranded people from hills, settlements and river areas,” he said.
Wednesday’s flash floods started after a glacial collapse high in the Himalayan region. Scientists who studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.
The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.
