China identifies nationalities of 261 missing in Himalayan mudslide

The figure was part of a broader disaster that killed at least 472 people and left more than 1,500 unaccounted for across the Himalayan border region, Nepal's disaster management authority and Chinese state media reported. The disaster struck on Wednesday when a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, sending a torrent through valleys and a road linking Kathmandu with Lhasa. CCTV said 558 people were missing in Gyirong County, Tibet, and that 260 of them were foreigners.

A separate report from China's foreign ministry said nearly 100 Chinese citizens were missing on the Nepal side. The Chinese death toll stood at three, according to state media, while Nepal's disaster management authority put its own death toll at 469 and the number of missing in Nepal at 977. India's External Affairs Ministry said 288 Indian nationals remained uncontactable, including 73 people working on a power project.

The U.S. State Department said 90 Americans were unaccounted for, though it was not aware of any U.S. deaths. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reported 55 Ukrainians missing, including two tourist groups of 47 and seven people. Nepal's tourism board listed 25 Canadians, nine South Koreans, eight Singaporeans, eight Germans, eight Russians, five Japanese, five New Zealanders, and two people each from Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The board also said one person each from Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia and Sweden was missing. Many of the foreign victims were trekking or making a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a sacred Hindu site in Tibet, according to Nepali officials. Rescue efforts continued Friday, with Nepal's disaster authority reporting 3,253 people rescued by helicopter and more than 150 injured taken to hospitals in Kathmandu and nearby districts.

Nepali police later put the death toll at 553, higher than the disaster authority's figure. Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the disaster site in Gyirong on Thursday, a trip state media described as unannounced and a signal of the priority Beijing placed on the response. Authorities also warned of a continuing threat from a dammed lake upstream from the mudslide.

Chinese state media said the lake held an estimated 2 million cubic meters of water and was already overflowing, with another 3 million cubic meters expected to enter over the following three days, raising the risk of a breach.