WASHINGTON, DC — About 85 Americans were still missing Sunday after catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-China border, while nine U.S. citizens had been evacuated from the disaster zone, according to State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.
Pigott told ABC’s “This Week” that the State Department was not aware of any U.S. citizen deaths. The agency said it has also sent a disaster-response adviser and committed $500,000 for emergency shelter, relief supplies, and water, sanitation and hygiene support.
The flooding has triggered an urgent multinational search effort as workers and residents try to account for the missing and reach people believed to be trapped in damaged hydropower sites.
Hundreds of workers may still be trapped in hydropower tunnels
Rescuers are trying to reach people inside mud-buried tunnels at hydropower projects in Nepal, where a private power-company group said at least 900 workers were unaccounted for across 12 damaged sites in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.
About 500 of those workers were believed to be inside tunnels, although it remained unclear whether rescuers had been able to contact them after some workers first called for help when the disaster hit last Wednesday.
Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria, said the tunnels are large enough for trucks to drive through and may have offered some workers a place to take shelter. He said rescuers have been able to get oxygen to some people and are racing to bring them food and water.
Search crews focus on Trishuli projects as missing toll rises
At the Trishuli-3 Hydropower Project, rescuers were working to descend about 50 feet into a tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal. The same group said at least 576 people were missing at the Upper Trishuli-1 project.
Of those at Upper Trishuli-1, an estimated 300 were believed to be trapped inside its tunnel. The scale of the emergency has made the tunnel sites a central focus for search and rescue teams as they try to move through mud, debris and unstable ground.
Officials and rescue workers have said the situation is still fluid, with contact limited and the full number of people inside the tunnels uncertain.
Flood began after Himalayan glacier collapse sent debris through Nepal and Tibet
The flooding started after bedrock beneath a glacier collapsed high in the Himalayas, pulling part of the glacier with it. The resulting rockfall registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event and sent water, rocks and debris surging through communities in Tibet and Nepal.
Buildings, bridges and roads were destroyed as the floodwaters moved through the region. The disaster has already taken a heavy toll across both countries, with the combined death count reported at more than 900 and thousands still listed as missing.
Nepal’s disaster agency said 903 people had been killed and 4,247 were missing, including 592 foreigners. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing as of Sunday.
State Department says no U.S. deaths are known as evacuation efforts continue
The State Department’s update offered the clearest picture yet of the American response, with nine U.S. citizens evacuated and dozens still unaccounted for. Pigott’s comments suggested that officials are still working through a fast-moving list of missing Americans tied to the disaster area.
The agency’s aid package is aimed at immediate life-safety needs, including shelter, clean water and sanitation. With search crews still trying to reach blocked tunnels and remote mountain areas, the number of Americans missing could change as rescue operations progress.
For now, officials say there is no confirmed American death toll connected to the flooding.
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