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Rescue efforts continue, now almost against the clock and with the fear of a new flood, in the border area between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region (China) where a major flood occurred on Wednesday, leaving at the moment more than 550 dead and nearly 2,500 reported missing.
China resumed rescue efforts this Friday, after they were temporarily suspended due to the gradual overflow of a natural dam formed by the accumulation of mud and rocks after the flood, although the fear of a new sudden rise in water levels remains, which is why authorities are asking for caution.
Meanwhile, Nepal has formally requested that India and China deliver and urgently install 42 portable bridges to reopen land traffic in the most affected areas and be able to locate people who have been left isolated by the flood.
Nepal has reported 579 recovered bodies, while China has raised the death toll to five on the Tibetan side, bringing the total to 584, without there being any record of coordination between both parties to cross-reference the figures.
Furthermore, in recent hours, Nepalese authorities drastically raised the number of people missing to 1,924, including 933 hydroelectric plant employees, more than a hundred security force members and customs personnel, and 622 tourists: 473 foreigners and 149 Nepalese living abroad, in addition to local citizens.
Security forces and the Tourist Police have managed to evacuate 129 foreign visitors in the affected areas so far, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. In total, Nepal has rescued 4,451 people.
According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), some 93,000 people may have been affected, although aid organizations have not yet reached certain flooded areas, so that figure could increase.
More than 2,000 Chinese personnel are already participating in rescue operations in the Tibetan county of Gyirong, after the first professional teams finally managed to reach the core of the area affected by the flood by land this Friday.
This could cause the figures on the Tibetan side of the tragedy to rise, as for the moment China has only reported five dead and 558 missing, including 260 foreigners, whose nationalities have not been detailed.
[Publicidad]