Death toll mounts, more than 1,000 missing in Nepal and China after Himalayan flood

Rescuers searched for survivors in the debris-strewn valleys and hillsides of Nepal on Thursday as more than 1,000 people were missing in the Himalayan country and neighbouring China after a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering a catastrophic flash flood.

Authorities in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys after Wednesday's disaster swept a road thronged by trekkers and pilgrims that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet.

Police said they expected the death toll to rise beyond 270, with dozens of bodies swept down into the plains from where they were being recovered.

Nepal's Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said the focus remained on finding survivors as rescue teams located 100 missing Indian visitors, mostly pilgrims, and 25 Chinese workers in the worst-hit region around Trishuli. More than 650 foreigners were still unaccounted for while Nepali authorities were yet to determine the number of locals missing.

"It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us," said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in a Nepali 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."

The tally of missing in Tibet's Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals. China said the death toll stayed at three.

The missing foreigners across both regions belonged to more than two dozen countries, including 288 more from India, 63 from the United States, 51 from Malaysia, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

China is in close communication with Nepal on search and rescue efforts, with nearly 100 Chinese nationals in the affected area across the border in Nepal, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

China's Premier Li Qiang, the country's number two official, arrived at the disaster-stricken site in Gyirong on Thursday afternoon, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The surprise visit, which had not been announced in advance, signalled Beijing is treating the disaster as a matter of the highest national priority.

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 in Nepal as the flows travelled downstream.

Ganesh Aryal, the administrator of Chitwan district, said authorities had recovered 103 bodies from the river system in his district which is about 100 km (62 miles) away in the plains from the worst-hit region of Trishuli.