BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- A fast-moving chain mudslide, triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse in Nepal, struck Gyirong Port on the China-Nepal border in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Aug. 26, causing heavy casualties and leaving many missing.
Chinese rescuers immediately launched all-out search and rescue operations. Here is what we know about the deadly mudslide and the latest progress in China:
-- Forty-three people had been confirmed dead and 519 others remained missing as of 6 p.m. Saturday.
-- A total of 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries have been identified as being among those missing, officials told a media conference attended by domestic and foreign journalists on Sunday.
The media conference was held after journalists from overseas news outlets visited the mudslide site at Gyirong Port over the weekend.
-- As of 6 p.m. Saturday, China had deployed more than 2,500 people and over 500 vehicles to join rescue operations. Drones had conducted more than 1,000 flights, and 5.43 tonnes of supplies had been air-dropped.
-- Local authorities have provided assistance to 1,720 Nepalese border residents in Gyirong. Many Nepalese nationals who work or do business in Gyirong were stranded there after the mudslide destroyed the border port, through which they normally enter and leave China.
China has also provided Nepal with daily updates on meteorological, hydrological and glacier data through a disaster information notification mechanism. ■
