Devastating floods and landslides in the Nepal-Tibet border region have caused at least 616 confirmed deaths, Nepalese police reported, three days after the disaster.
Chinese state media had earlier confirmed seven fatalities, bringing the total to 623 deaths. Around 2,500 people are missing.
Nepalese rescuers are trying to free over a hundred workers trapped in a tunnel at the construction site of the Trishuli hydroelectric dam, in the Rasuwa district, hit by the devastating flood of the Bhotekoshi river. “Two helicopters have been sent to the site, but identifying the tunnel entrances remains very difficult,” said army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet, adding that 350 workers and local residents have already been evacuated “in very risky conditions, made difficult by bad weather and floods.”
The testimony of Valentina Piccinini, an Italian who survived the flood, was dramatic: “An immense roar. I ran away to the mountains, I climbed as high as I could. Without the help of the Nepalese I wouldn’t be here”. Giovanni Fassini and Marco Lombardi from Brescia returned to Italy today.