The death toll from the devastating flash flood in the Nepal-Tibet border region has continued to rise. According to Nepal’s police, cited in a BBC report on Friday, the number of confirmed dead has now reached at least 535.
The updated death toll comes roughly 48 hours after the disaster. The devastating flash flood struck the Nepal-Tibet border region early Wednesday morning. Chinese state media had earlier reported five deaths in Tibet from the same event.
According to a report by the news agency AFP, more than 1,400 people, including hundreds of foreign nationals, remain missing in the disaster. Citing Chinese state media, the BBC says more than 558 people remain missing in Tibet alone.
Rescue workers searching for survivors in the devastated area are “anxious and on alert” over reports that a second wave of flooding could strike, a Red Cross official told the BBC.
A lake has formed near the China-Nepal border from rising water levels, and there are fears the lake could overflow. BBC journalist Laura Bicker reported this from Beijing.
According to Reuters and the Kathmandu Post, analysis of the disaster’s cause is still under way. But scientists analyzing satellite imagery say a massive collapse of ice and rock from the northern slope of Nepal’s Langtang Lirung mountain fell into the Lende Khola river. This temporarily blocked the river’s flow, creating a natural dam. That dam later burst, sending a massive surge of water, ice, rock and mud rushing downstream at high speed.