Rescuers on Saturday restored the first sharp-curve section on the national highway G216 -- where the roadbed had been completely destroyed -- preparing for full reopening of this critical lifeline to the mudslide-hit border port of Gyirong in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.
The repair work on this section has been complicated by persistent light rain, thick mud deposits and the limited space available for operations.
With excavators working in shifts, the sharp-curve stretch was largely repaired by 17:00 Saturday.
"The biggest challenge today is that the roadbed is completely gone, and we're operating in a very confined space. So we've been using excavators to dig out the silt in relay, while reinforcing the foundation with large rocks. So far, we've repaired about 150 meters of roadway, excavated 12,000 cubic meters of silt, and repaired 100 meters of washed-out roadbed. We've reopened the first curve where the roadbed had been entirely destroyed. That gives us a solid footing for the next phase of rescue and relief work," said Wu Xin, commander of a rescue team from China Anneng, a state-owned engineering and rescue enterprise.
The deadly mudslide, triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse on the Nepalese side, had left 16 people dead and 546 others missing in Gyirong on the Chinese side, as of 18:00 Saturday, according to a press conference held by local authorities on Sunday.
Rescuers repair critical road section to mudslide-hit border port
Nepal has requested professional rescue support from China and other neighboring countries to help with complex operations for flood victims, Nepali Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said on Saturday.
On Wednesday, a massive high-altitude glacier collapse in Nepal triggered a catastrophic mudslide along its border with China, causing heavy casualties and left many people missing on both sides.
The glacier collapse also triggered a catastrophic flash flood in Nepal's Bhote Koshi River Wednesday morning, affecting three districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading, officials said.
"As of today, over 4,451 people have been rescued from the region, including over 187 foreign nationals. So far, 626 bodies have been recovered from the area, and about 2,400 people are still unaccounted for," said Khanal.
He said the impact has been confined to particular regions of Nepal, and that tourist activities across most of the country are continuing.
"If Nepal would be unsafe to travel at this point -- I just wanted to highlight that Nepal is mostly open. (The) majority of our tourist destinations, including Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lumbini, Chitwan, Janakpur, mountain areas with very popular entrepreneur regions, and Everest (Qomolangma) regions -- almost all of these areas are open. This particular disaster has had an impact on a particular location of Nepal. And I just wanted to highlight this particularly to our international media friends," said Khanal.
He emphasized that the Nepali government has reached out to neighboring countries, including China, for rescue assistance.
"As operations continue, we have requested specific and specialized assistance from our friendly neighbors, where such support can further strengthen our search and rescue efforts in areas such as opening the tunnel where people have been trapped, technologies that help us locate people alive in affected areas, quick forensic and DNA analysis, and mortuaries to keep the bodies. An 11-member specialized technical reconnaissance team for tunnel rescue from India has been mobilized, and a tunnel rescue team from China is expected to arrive very soon," said Khanal.
Nepal seeks assistance from neighbors to bolster flood relief efforts
