Rescue operations entered their fourth day near the Nepal-China border on Saturday, with 2,478 people still untraced after devastating flash floods swept through the region earlier this week.
Satellite images taken before and after the disaster have offered a stark picture of the destruction around the Gyirong Port-Rasuwagadhi border crossing.
Border complex almost wiped out
An image captured on April 19, 2024, showed the crossing largely intact, with buildings, roads and a bridge spread around the river and surrounded by forested Himalayan slopes.
A second image taken on August 27, a day after the floods, showed a dramatically different landscape. Much of the border complex had disappeared, while the river channel appeared significantly wider.
Large amounts of mud and debris covered areas where roads and buildings had stood. Sections of the surrounding slopes were also stripped of vegetation, leaving exposed earth and visible scars across the terrain.
Rescuers find ‘nothing but ruins’
The satellite images corresponded with what rescuers saw when they reached the area on Friday.
A 21-member Chinese rescue team, accompanied by a search-and-rescue dog, made its way across mountains and valleys after roads leading to the border crossing were destroyed. The team used ropes to negotiate forests and steep cliffs.
“There was no road... it was all virgin forest and sheer cliffs,” rescue worker Zou Mingqi was quotes as saying by news agency Reuters.
Describing the scene after reaching the complex, he said, “as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but ruins.”
Hundreds remain missing
Nepal's disaster authority said the number of missing people had risen to 1,924. In Tibet's Gyirong County, at least 558 people were reported missing, according to CCTV, cited by Reuters.
India's Ministry of External Affairs said 320 Indians remained missing in Nepal, while another 400 were stranded in Tibet. More than 90,000 people are estimated to have been affected by the disaster, according to the Red Cross.
Rescue operations disrupted again
Rescue efforts were temporarily suspended on Friday after a flood-created lake began overflowing into the Lhende Khola and Trishuli rivers. The operation was paused for around three hours before conditions improved and teams resumed their work.
The floods were triggered on Wednesday after a glacier collapse sent rock, ice, mud and debris through Himalayan river systems, killing at least 579 people in Nepal and seven in Tibet.