Five Australians previously unaccounted for following the devastating floods and landslides along the Nepal Tibet border have been located safe and well.
The latest developments have reduced the number of Aussies still missing to 38, after authorities initially feared 43 were unaccounted for following the disaster.
The survivors have been located in Nepal, Tibet and China, while three others were found outside the disaster zone.
Their discovery comes after Australian officials faced growing difficulties tracing travellers in remote areas where communications networks, roads and other infrastructure have been destroyed.
New footage (below) has emerged showing the force and devastation of the disaster.
The catastrophe is one of the worst natural disasters to hit the region, after a glacier collapse triggered a massive surge of water, ice, rock and mud through communities along the Nepal China border on August 26.
Nepalese authorities now put the country’s death toll at more than 1,000, with 1,003 deaths confirmed and another 3,916 people still missing. The figure includes 583 foreign nationals.
China has reported a further 16 deaths and 546 people missing, taking the combined number of people still unaccounted for in Nepal and China to more than 4,400.
The scale of the destruction is making the search increasingly difficult, with huge quantities of mud and debris covering roads, buildings and hydropower facilities.
Rescue teams have been concentrating on remote hydropower stations, where hundreds of workers are feared trapped.
Around 639 people remain stranded at several damaged facilities, while authorities believe as many as 500 workers could be trapped inside tunnels filled with mud and debris.
More than 11,800 people have so far been rescued in Nepal, with helicopters, heavy machinery, drones and specialist teams being used to reach isolated areas.
The recovery operation has also turned towards identifying the dead. Mass burials have begun in Kathmandu as authorities struggle to cope with the number of bodies recovered without identification.
Nepalese authorities are preserving DNA samples and other identifying information to help families establish the fate of missing relatives, while Australian families have also been providing DNA samples to assist with identification.
Australia has deployed consular personnel to assist those affected and has committed $8 million in humanitarian assistance to communities devastated by the floods.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has welcomed news that Australians have been found alive while acknowledging the continuing uncertainty facing those whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Smartraveller currently advises Aussies to reconsider travel to flood affected areas in the vicinity of the Bhote-Koshi and Trishuli rivers in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitawan, Tanahu, Nawalpur and Gorkha Districts, due the risk of landslides and further flooding.
With thousands of people still missing and large areas of the disaster zone difficult to access, search teams are continuing to work through unstable terrain and vast quantities of debris in the hope of finding more survivors.
