Nepal and China resume flood rescue as death toll surpasses 600

Rescuers have resumed efforts in the flood-ravaged Nepal-Tibet border region after a brief pause over fears of a second glacial flood, as the death toll rose to 633 and the number of people missing neared 3,000.

Nepal’s police said the number of people killed in the disaster has risen to 626 on Saturday.

The country’s disaster authority reported the total number of people missing on its side of the border to 2,426, of which 517 are foreigners – which could include tourists as well as foreign workers.

Chinese authorities have reported that the death toll in Tibet has risen to at least seven, with 554 people missing.

Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, said the government has requested specialist help from India and China to “fill gaps” in its rescue operations. Those teams, which includes tunnel rescue, are expected to arrive later on Saturday.

“The reason the [Nepalese] foreign ministry spokesman said that this decision has been taken is because lives are at stake and that it is very, very urgent,” she said.

“The reason that initially Nepal had said they didn’t want assistance is they didn’t want the chaos which comes with huge teams being fanned out in different areas.”

The catastrophe began on Wednesday morning when part of a glacier collapsed at roughly 5,200 metres in the Himalayas, plunging about 1,200 metres and gathering rock and debris before slamming into the Lende River.