Rescue operations on the Nepal-Tibet border are being hampered by heavy rain and rising river levels following Wednesday's flash floods, which have killed 750 people and left more than 3,000 missing across Nepal and Tibet. The Red Cross estimates at least 93,000 people have been affected and are in great need as the death toll is expected to rise with many hardest-hit areas still inaccessible.
The floods were triggered when an enormous section of a Himalayan glacier broke loose in Nepal's Langtang national park, sending water, mud, rock and ice downriver and obliterating villages, power stations, roads and bridges. By Friday the toll stood at 584 deaths and 1,942 missing, with dozens of bodies recovered hundreds of miles downstream in Nepal's Chitwan district near the Indian border; rescuers were briefly pulled out when a debris-formed lake overflowed toward their position.
UN officials report more than 40 bridges destroyed or badly damaged and over 40 km of road completely washed out, while the Nepali army has rescued more than 100 people by helicopter and evacuated dozens of injured to Kathmandu. Authorities are urging teams to exercise caution as swollen rivers and the threat of further flooding persist.