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Border area between Nepal and China where 33 Australians are missing still almost entirely cut off

Majority of missing Australians were near Gyirong Port minutes before impact. Rescuers say the area is now destroyed, covered in metres of silt and debris

It has been almost a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and not even a vehicle can get into the area where the majority of missing Australians were last heard from.

Gyirong Port, the border area between Nepal and China, was the first to be hit. Images from Chinese rescue teams who have managed to get in by helicopter or hiking show the area has been completely flattened. The immigration building, the power lines, everything, just wiped away.

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© Photograph: Lhasa fire and rescue mobile detachment/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Lhasa fire and rescue mobile detachment/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Lhasa fire and rescue mobile detachment/Xinhua/AP

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Nepal rescuers race to reach hundreds feared trapped in hydropower tunnels

Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods

Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.

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© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

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China is concealing scale of flood disaster, say Tibet campaigners

Rights group claims 300 homes were destroyed in Tibet and number of missing people is ‘far higher’ than Beijing admits

A Tibetan advocacy group says hundreds of homes were destroyed on the Tibetan side of the border in last week’s deadly floods, raising questions about Beijing’s official account of the scale of the disaster.

Public discussion about the flash floods has been restricted, with security officials in Tibet announcing on Sunday that it had penalised at least 10 people for sharing “false disaster information”. There was no further information on the nature of the penalties.

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© Photograph: Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/AP

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Nepal rescuers race to reach hundreds feared trapped in hydropower tunnels

Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods

Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

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