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Hundreds of foreign nationals are among the nearly 3,000 people missing following devastating floods that hit the border area between Nepal and Tibet earlier this week.
A tsunami-like wall of water and debris ripped through the Himalayan region on Wednesday, killing at least 682 people and sparking a huge rescue effort.
On Friday, Chinese officials said 260 foreigners remained missing following the deadly flash floods, while Nepal’s disaster agency said 517 foreign nationals were missing. Nepal’s tourism board put the number of tourists still “out of communication” at 622 – 473 of which were foreign tourists.
The tourism board’s figures included 98 people from India, 61 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 33 British, 29 Latvians, 25 Canadians, nine South Koreans, and nine Singaporeans.
Nine Russians and eight Germans were also still unaccounted for, as well as six from South Africa, five from Japan, five from New Zealand, and four from France, according to the figures.
The other countries with people on the tourism board’s missing list were Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Italy, Belarus, Finland, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Serbia, Switzerland, Sweden, and Vietnam.
The US State Department said on Thursday that 90 US citizens also remained unaccounted for, while the Australian government announced on Saturday that the number of its missing nationals had risen to 41.
Three Spanish nationals are also still missing, per the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
China has not provided a breakdown of the nationalities of the foreign nationals it reported as missing.
Europe pledges support
The European Union has pledged its support for aid efforts in the wake of the floods, activating its Copernicus Earth observation satellite system to help monitor the aftermath.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would also allocate €2 million in humanitarian aid for Nepal “to deliver life-saving assistance to families and communities hit hardest.”
Additional sources • AFP