Nepal toll surges as rescuers struggle through ‘unimaginable’ disaster

NUWAKOT, Nepal (AFP)–Rescuers struggled on Monday through mud and debris for a sixth day, as the number of missing people soared to nearly 5,000 since tsunami-like glacial floods roared down from the China-Nepal border, creating an “unimaginable” disaster.

The latest confirmed death toll surged above 900, and the number of those unaccounted for is also climbing — with unidentified bodies buried in mass graves after DNA sampling.

The huge wave of freezing water, rocks and debris that smashed into villages and towns on Wednesday killed at least 903 people in Nepal and in Tibet, in China, with at least 17 bodies pulled from rivers downstream in India.