By Associated Press and Agencies | Posted by TOE

Rescuers worked through mud and debris Friday in areas devastated by a flash flood along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China.

They searched for hundreds of people still missing as the death toll rose and Nepali and Chinese authorities warned of further flooding from a lake that formed upstream after Wednesday’s disaster and was already overflowing. They urged people in potentially affected areas to move to safer ground.

Police in Nepal said Friday morning that the country’s death toll had risen to 469 from 390 a day earlier. China had not updated its report of three deaths in Tibet. Together, the two countries have said more than 1,500 people are missing.

Nepal declines foreign rescue help

Nepal does not need foreign assistance for search-and-rescue ​operations following the devastating flash flood that swept through several towns, its foreign ‌ministry said on Friday, despite offers of help from several countries with nationals missing in the disaster.

The flood tore through areas including Rasuwa district near the Chinese border, levelling entire towns, damaging hydropower ​projects and killing close to 500 people. Hundreds of foreign nationals are still ​missing, including from South Korea, which said it has already sent a ⁠response team to Nepal and will also dispatch a disaster relief team.

But Nepal’s foreign ​ministry said on Friday that it was managing the rescue efforts.

“The offer for help is ​natural. Our security agencies are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said without providing further details.

South Korea’s foreign ministry ​said Nepal had indicated it was not yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams.

“South ​Korea will keep negotiating with Nepal over the matter,” the ministry added.

Seoul has pledged $1 million in ‌humanitarian ⁠assistance through international organisations, its foreign minister said on X.

China says glacier collapse in Nepal may have trigged disaster

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said analysis showed the disaster may have been triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse in Nepal.

Lin Jian told reporters Thursday that the assessments were made by experts and official institutions from China and Nepal.

Nepal police say water dam on the Tibet side has burst again

All security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public deployed in rescue and relief efforts were told to remain on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary.

No further details were provided.

“It hasn’t stopped,” Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press, noting that the rescue operation is continuing but with a high alert.

Floods highlight growing glacier risks in warming Himalayas

The flooding was likely caused by a huge chunk of a glacier that broke off and temporarily dammed a river, according to preliminary investigations by scientists. That may have led to the backed-up water surging downstream with enormous force a few hours later, they suggested.

Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood.