Four Australians reported missing after devastating floods and landslides in Nepal have been found alive by rescue teams. The latest cases bring the number of Australians rescued to six, while dozens more remain missing.
Among the survivors is 26-year-old Kara Severino from Wollongong, who managed to escape by joining a group of people who were leaving the disaster area on a tractor.
Another Australian was rescued on Tuesday, while four others were found on Wednesday. The identities of the remaining five people have not been released. According to authorities, one of them was located in Nepal, another in China and three outside the disaster area.
The people were reported missing after their families lost contact with them after the floods and had no information about whether they had managed to survive.
The toll from the disaster remains dramatic. More than 4,850 people are still missing, including 38 Australians. Nepalese police have announced that the death toll in the country has reached 1,118, while on the Tibetan side of the border, Chinese authorities have reported 16 deaths and 546 missing.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the news of the recovery of his citizens, saying that amid the tragedy, confirmation that some of the missing are safe is a positive development. Australian authorities are working with local authorities to find others.
Australia has also begun sending humanitarian aid by air force planes, while crisis management teams have been deployed to Nepal to support rescue operations.
Among the Australians still missing are children. The youngest is believed to be an 11-year-old boy who was travelling with his 14-year-old brother and his parents. The family was on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.
Meanwhile, search and rescue operations continue in some of the worst-hit areas of Nepal. About 12,000 people have been rescued in the central part of the country, while attention is also focused on the tunnels of hydroelectric projects, where it is suspected that hundreds of workers may be trapped.
At the Rasuvagadi hydroelectric power plant, near the border with China, authorities believe 46 workers are trapped in an underground space inside a tunnel. There is still hope that they are alive and may have food and water supplies.
So far, 279 people have been rescued from hydroelectric projects hit by huge masses of ice, rocks, mud and debris after a glacier collapsed near the border with China. At least 639 people remain missing in these areas.
Nepalese, Indian and Chinese teams are working to penetrate the rubble and tunnels in search of survivors. At the Upper Trishuli 3A hydroelectric power station, it took rescuers almost six days just to locate tunnels blocked by large amounts of mud.
The scale of the destruction is extraordinary. According to a preliminary assessment by the United Nations Development Programme, the floods and landslides have created at least 2.2 million tons of debris, including parts of buildings, rocks and sediment.
Search and rescue operations continue, as authorities race against time to find the thousands of people still missing and to rescue workers suspected of being alive under the rubble.
