Death toll from Nepal-China flash floods at 1,220, nearly 4,800 missing

• China has confirmed 16 deaths and 546 others missing - 844 foreigners among those missing across Nepal-China border since flash floods struck on Aug. 26

The death toll from last week’s devastating flash floods and mudslides on the China-Nepal border has climbed to 1,220, while nearly 4,762 people, including 844 foreigners, remained missing, the latest official data showed on Wednesday.

According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 1,204 bodies have been recovered in Nepal since massive flash floods hit the Himalayan country on Aug. 26, while 301 people were injured and around 4,216 remained missing.

Nepalese authorities said around 900 personnel deployed at several hydropower stations in the country remain missing.

Authorities said 11,993 people have been rescued from the flood-hit areas, while 21,314 security personnel, including army and police, have been mobilized to assist the ongoing search and rescue operations.

Around 1.6 million people have been affected in Nepal by the flash floods, they added.

At least 16 people have been killed on the Chinese side of the border, with 546 missing, including 261 foreigners, according to Xinhua News.

Road access to the core area of the mudslide-hit Gyirong Port in Tibet, which China designates as the Xizang Autonomous Region, was restored on Wednesday after days of “round-the-clock” repair work on the damaged highway, Beijing-based Xinhua News reported.

Rescue teams, relief supplies, and some rescue equipment have entered the core rescue area via the repaired road.

A 44-member Korea Disaster Relief Team from South Korea reached Nepal Wednesday to help find the missing people. At least nine South Koreans are among the missing.

China has also sent its experts, besides drones, DNA testing devices and reagents, water-purification equipment, and lighting gear, state media reported.

India has also sent DNA analysis experts.

The disaster struck on Aug. 26 when a glacier on Nepal’s Mount Langtang Lirung fractured at an altitude of about 5,200 meters (17,060 feet), triggering an ice-rock avalanche that developed into a massive debris flow and swept through valleys along the border.

The huge surge of water, along with mudslides, devastated Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Kavre, and the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, while also burying the Gyirong border crossing with Nepal in southwestern Tibet, also known as the Xizang Autonomous Region, on the Chinese side.