China-Nepal floods: rescuers pull 2 survivors out of rubble near Tibet border crossing

Chinese rescuers continued searching for survivors from this week’s devastating floods along the border with Nepal as the operation passed a critical 72-hour window.

Two villagers near the Gyirong border checkpoint were rescued from the rubble at around 1am on Saturday, according to Tibet’s emergency bureau.

But at the border crossing itself, there was no sign of any survivors. Liu Maolin, the rescue team leader, said the checkpoint building had been completely destroyed by a mudslide.

Seven people have been confirmed dead, with 544 still missing on the Tibetan side. In Nepal, more than 610 have died with over 2,400 missing.

The rescue teams had to battle through harsh terrain and challenging conditions, with China’s Meteorological Administration warning that Gyirong county in Tibet, one of the worst affected areas, would see light rainfall and temperatures as low as 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next three days.

On Friday night, an advance team of eight firefighters were forced to pull back to a safe zone following an urgent warning that a lake created after the glacier collapse that triggered the floods on Wednesday was on the verge of collapsing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.