The death toll from a deadly mudslide caused by an ice-rock avalanche in Nepal on Aug. 26 has crossed the 1,300 mark, the Nepal Police said on Saturday.
According to the latest details released by police, as many as 1,342 bodies had been recovered by 05:00 local time Saturday.
Police said 4,898 people remained out of contact as of Saturday morning, and 8,631 people have been rescued so far, as security agencies continue search and rescue operations in the mudslide-affected areas.
Authorities have also intensified efforts to identify bodies through DNA testing. DNA samples have been collected from 1,260 deceased people and 972 relatives of the deceased, bringing the total number of samples collected to 2,232.
Mudslide death toll in Nepal reaches 1,342: police
The U.S. State Department approved possible military sales to Saudi Arabia and Oman on Friday, with the deals valued at an estimated 5.75 billion U.S. dollars and 188 million U.S. dollars, respectively.
Saudi Arabia has requested a 5 billion U.S. dollars purchase of JDAM-ER (Joint Direct Attack Munitions-Extended Range) guidance kits and related equipment, including 5,004 BLU-111 500-pound and 5,000 BLU-117 2,000-pound general-purpose bombs, the State Department said in a release.
The proposed Saudi purchase also includes AGT-1500 engines and related equipment, valued at 750 million U.S. dollars, according to the release.
In another release, the U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of F-16 Sustainment services and related equipment to Oman.
The administration has now forwarded the foreign military sales notifications to Capitol Hill for congressional review.
U.S. State Department approves nearly 6 bln USD arms sale to Saudi Arabia, Oman
