Death toll passes 1,000 as search continues

Rescue teams with search dogs combed through mud, rocks and debris on Tuesday in Nepal and China, searching for thousands of people still missing after catastrophic flooding tore through communities across the Himalayas, leaving more than 1,000 dead, according to officials and reports from the region.

Nepal's disaster agency said on Tuesday that 987 deaths had been counted there, with 3,916 people missing, including 583 foreigners. Chinese authorities, in their latest update on Sunday, reported 16 deaths and 546 people still missing, including 261 foreigners.

At least 11,814 people have been rescued so far, according to Nepalese authorities.

Glacial collapse triggered floods

The disaster began Wednesday with a chain of events high in the Himalayas. A glacial collapse sent large amounts of rock, ice and meltwater into valleys below, triggering powerful floods downstream, according to reports from the region.

Scientists studying satellite imagery said the collapse appears to have involved the failure of bedrock beneath a glacier in the Himalayan region. The rockfall was powerful enough to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.

The resulting surge of water and debris entered rivers that flow through valleys in Tibet and Nepal, causing them to rise rapidly. Floodwaters swept away homes, buildings, roads and bridges and carried mud and rocks downstream.

Rescue efforts hamstrung by damage

The scale of last week's disaster was hampering rescue efforts in both regions, with landslides, destroyed roads and widespread damage cutting off remote areas. Crews faced challenging conditions as they searched unstable terrain and piles of debris, raising fears the death toll could rise as rescuers reach isolated communities.

In Nepal, rescuers were racing to reach hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside tunnels at hydropower projects damaged by the floods. About 900 workers are missing from 12 projects, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to Nepalese authorities.

Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal's army spokesman, said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects. Visuals released by the army showed rescue teams entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud and water and climbing over rocks as they searched for signs of life.

On the Chinese side, rescue crews scoured areas hit by mudslides, particularly around the Gyirong Port border crossing, which was destroyed. Some rescuers, aided by search dogs, searched gaps among rocks and debris for signs of life. Other teams used heavy machinery to reopen a major road leading to Gyirong Port, which would facilitate the delivery of equipment, personnel and supplies to the disaster zone, according to the Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper.

A pilot's view of devastation

Bimal Sharma, a helicopter pilot who has been flying rescue and relief missions since the disaster began, described the scene in Timure, a border town close to Tibet that he has known for years.

"It felt like I was flying over an entirely different landscape," Sharma said. "I can see the pain in their eyes. It's heartbreaking."

A family's loss in Nepal

In a remote village in Nepal, three generations of one family grieved together, struggling to make sense of the disaster that left four of their number missing and feared dead, according to a report by PBS.

Pramod Poudel, who came from Britain where he lives, returned to be with his father, the only surviving member of his immediate family. His wife Sumitra, mother, brother and uncle are missing or dead. Poudel and his wife married two months ago.

"Born and raised, to live. As you can see, there's nothing. Nothing exists," Poudel said.

His father, Purusottam Poudel, survived by seconds after hearing flood warnings and running up a hill. Poudel and his uncle walked eight hours through the valley on Saturday to rescue his father.

"It was beautiful village. There was lots of greenery, the childhood memory when I used to go to school and when I grew up. My friends, my family, it's all been taken away," Poudel said.

Officials in Nepal continued mass burials nearly one week after the floods, according to a PBS report.