Flood

At least 392 people have been killed in catastrophic flash floods in the mountainous border region between Nepal and China, of whom 359 were in Nepal alone, plus three in China, the authorities said on Thursday as the death toll continues to rise.More than 1,300 people still missing, as rescue teams evacuate survivors from the disaster zone.Many of the bodies recovered in Nepal were swept kilometres downstream towards the Indian border, with rescue workers in some cases finding only body parts, a police spokesman told dpa.In their latest update, the Nepalese police reported that 466 people had been rescued or were injured.Many areas remain difficult to reach, with thousands of emergency workers searching for survivors under challenging conditions. The Nepalese army said it had airlifted hundreds of people away.Prime Minister Balen Shah said in a post on Facebook that more than 13,000 army and police personnel have been mobilized for the rescue operations. He said 573 people had been rescued on Thursday in 69 relief flights.The Nepal Tourism Board said 31 missing foreign nationals had been rescued. A further 667 travellers from Nepal and abroad remain missing, the tourism authority said.More than 550 people are unaccounted for on the Chinese side in Tibet, according to Chinese state media, including around 260 foreigners.India's Foreign Ministry said at least 288 of its nationals were missing in Nepal. Many were pilgrims travelling to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet, while 73 were working on a hydropower project on the Trishuli river.Wednesday's flash flood swept away bridges, buried roads and damaged homes within seconds, leaving many communities difficult to reach. Thousands of rescue workers are searching through vast amounts of mud and debris, while the Nepalese army has evacuated hundreds of people, including dozens of foreigners.Preliminary assessments suggest that a glacial collapse and debris flow may have temporarily blocked a tributary of the Bhotekoshi river, which in turn created a lake that subsequently burst and sent a torrent of water, ice and mud downstream.Chinese authorities meanwhile warned of a risk of further flooding after another lake formed at a site on the Nepalese side of the border.