Death toll from flooding in Nepal and China passes 1,000

The death toll from the flood catastrophe in the Himalayas has risen to more than 1,000 across Nepal and Tibet, authorities said on Tuesday.

Police in Kathmandu said in their latest figures that 1,007 people had died in Nepal alone. China's death toll for the Tibet region has stood at 16 for several days.

Authorities in Nepal said many of the bodies recovered were badly disfigured and in some cases already severely decomposed. The death toll is expected to rise further in the coming days and weeks.

The number of people missing in Nepal has risen to almost 4,600, according to a police spokesman. Nearly 550 people were still missing in Tibet.

Hundreds of foreign nationals have been unaccounted for since the disaster struck last Wednesday.

The devastating flash flood, carrying water, mud, ice and debris, swept away everything in its path in the border region. Experts believe a massive glacier collapse on the Tibetan side triggered the disaster. Many villages have been completely destroyed, leaving residents with nothing.

Thousands of emergency workers are continuing to search through masses of debris and buried tunnels for those still missing.

Search and rescue operations have repeatedly been hampered by the threat of further flash floods and bad weather.