Hundreds still missing from mudslide at China and Nepal border

Rescuers in

Nepal used helicopters on Thursday to scour for hundreds still

missing after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on

the Himalayan border with China's Xizang or Tibet, sending catastrophic

floods through towns and valleys, killing 162.

More than 400 foreigners were among 579 tourists missing, Nepal

tourism officials said, after the disaster swept a region

thronged by trekkers and pilgrims, while police said they

expected the death toll to rise beyond 162.

"This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies

are expected to be recovered," police spokesperson Abi Narayan

Kafle told Reuters.

Among the missing tourists, 47 were from the United States, 34

from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada, Sunil

Sharma, a spokesperson for Nepal's tourism board, told the

Associated Press news agency.

The tally of missing in the mudslide disaster in Xizang's

Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on

Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals, but it was not

immediately clear if the two nations' figures overlapped.

Verified videos showed crushing masses of water and debris

sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong,

with homes, roads and power projects washed away further

downstream in Nepal.

"It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us, said

Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor, being treated in

hospital.

"As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I

saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife's hand and take

her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud."

A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. "My

wife is still somewhere beneath the mud," he added. "She's

gone."

Another survivor said he saved himself by clinging to a mango

tree as he watched the house where he had been working

disappear.

In the hardest-hit districts, helicopters are dropping tents,

food and other emergency supplies provided by neighbouring India

said Raja Ram Basnet, a spokesperson for Nepal's army.

Early reports from Nepali officials suggested an earthquake in

the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to

collapse and trigger the floods.