Death toll rises in Nepal-China border disaster as a lake poses new flood threat

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers pulled out survivors caked in dark brown mud and helicopters lifted stranded people to safety Friday, as Nepal and China raced to respond to catastrophic flash floods that killed more than 500 people and left more than 1,500 missing.

Rescue teams were put on high alert for more flooding from a new lake that has formed high up on the Himalayan mountains after the initial floods on Wednesday. Experts warn that the lake, formed after the glacier collapse that triggered the floods, was starting to overflow.

Nepal’s army was deployed to help rescue more than 100 people believed trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower plant located in the country’s worst-hit district. Like elsewhere in the disaster zone, their work was complicated by thick layers of mud that covered the site.