China said on Sunday that 261 foreign citizens were missing after last week’s deadly floods along the border between its Tibet autonomous region and Nepal.
The missing foreigners were from 23 different countries and included 104 Nepalese citizens, authorities in Tibet’s Gyirong county told reporters.
Also unaccounted for are 49 people from India; 33 Latvians; 18 from the United States; 15 from Britain; six each from Canada and Australia; four from South Africa; three each from Malaysia, Germany and Russia; two from Ireland, Estonia, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand; and one each from Kazakhstan, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain and Hungary.
China has so far confirmed 16 deaths after Wednesday’s glacier collapse, while 546 people are missing. In Nepal, at least 788 have been confirmed dead, with more than 2,500 still unaccounted for.
Sunday’s list of missing foreigners was China’s first release of country-by-country details. Beijing added that it had notified the diplomatic missions of the countries concerned. Gyirong officials also said no foreign survivors were stranded in the area.
The worst-affected areas remain on high alert even four days on, with Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority warning on Sunday of a fresh surge in water levels on the Bhote Koshi River.
The increase was linked to a new barrier lake that had formed on the Lhende River, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi. Search and rescue crews, relief workers and local residents in Nepal’s Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitwan districts were advised to exercise the utmost caution following the alert.
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources told state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday that it had launched a comprehensive assessment of geological risks in the affected areas. More than 60 potential geological hazards had been identified, it said, with eight preliminarily classified as high-risk sites.
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