Rescuers claw through mud as Nepal, China flood death toll climbs to 675

The death toll from this week's glacial flood on the Nepal-China border has climbed to at least six hundred eighty-two, Dawn reports, with rescuers still clawing through thick mud in search of survivors. Nepal's disaster authority says two thousand four hundred twenty-six people remain missing, including hundreds of foreign trekkers and pilgrims bound for Tibet's Mount Kailash, along with hydropower workers swept up when the torrent tore through the Trishuli valley. The U.S. Geological Survey traced the disaster to a glacial collapse that sent a wall of ice, mud, and water downstream on Wednesday. Soldiers are still trying to drill through to about a hundred people trapped in a hydropower tunnel, even as Chinese authorities say the swollen lake at the source has begun to shrink, easing fears of a second flood.

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