The death toll from flash floods and mudslides in Nepal rose to 469 on Thursday, police said, as rescue teams continued searching for people missing after the disaster in the country’s north.
More than 1,400 people were reported missing, while India’s Ministry of External Affairs said 290 Indians in Nepal remained uncontactable.
About 200 Indians stranded on the Chinese side after the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage have also sought assistance, India’s foreign ministry said, according to local media.
The flooding struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district near the border with China on Wednesday. The mountainous area, about 120 km (75 miles) north of Kathmandu, had received no rainfall at the time, leaving residents without warning of the sudden deluge.
Nepal and China have warned of further flooding as debris has created barrier lakes along the border that could burst, Reuters reported. Nepal’s disaster authority urged residents, travellers and rescue workers to keep away from river banks, while Chinese authorities warned that around 3 million cubic metres of water could enter a dammed lake over the next three days.
India has sent a second shipment of humanitarian assistance to Nepal, including 37.5 tonnes of disaster-relief supplies, medicines and food.
The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu has also issued emergency contact numbers for people seeking assistance, with the numbers available through WhatsApp.
Authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state placed the districts of Maharajganj and Kushinagar on high alert as they monitored rivers receiving water from Nepal. Three bodies believed to have been swept downstream from Nepal were recovered from the Gandak river in Maharajganj, officials said. Their identities had not been established.
The Delhi Transport Corporation said the bus service linking Delhi and Kathmandu would remain suspended on Thursday and Friday because of the floods.
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