It is heartbreak in the Himalayas right now, as families desperately search for loved ones after a wall of ice, rocks and debris tore through villages in Nepal and Tibet.

It has been a devastating few days in the Himalayan region, and Nepal has now begun burying some of the hundreds of bodies recovered so far.

According to cbinews.tv, the tragedy unfolded on Wednesday when a deadly, tsunami-like flood came crashing through the mountains, sweeping away entire villages and leaving thousands unaccounted for.

The scenes at rescue stations and hospitals have been truly distressing, with distraught families packing the centres searching for missing relatives, while others face the painful task of identifying bodies at overflowing morgues.

So far, at least 797 lives have been lost across both Nepal and Tibet, which is just across the border in China. There are fears some bodies may have even been swept as far downstream as India.

And the numbers are still staggering. At least 3,048 people remain missing, including tourists and pilgrims who were headed to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash. In Nepal alone, 933 hydropower plant workers are among those still unaccounted for.

At the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site, Nepali army troops and engineers spent Sunday drilling through debris to reach workers believed to be trapped inside a tunnel after managing to insert a pipe into the passage.

One survivor, 33-year-old Surendra Dowluri from India’s Andhra Pradesh, who was working at the Upper Trishuli-1 site, described the horror to cbinews.tv.

“We heard a very loud sound… and saw that the turbine floor was submerged with slush, and six workers were stuck in that,” he told AFP in Kathmandu after his rescue four days into the disaster. “We managed to rescue five of them, but one person lost his life.”

He said some workers managed to reach higher ground just in time.

Rescue efforts have not been easy. The army said overnight rain and rising river waters hampered operations on Sunday, filling excavation areas with water before conditions finally eased.

The US Geological Survey has said the disaster was caused by a glacial collapse, which sent a wall of water and debris downstream. That torrent has now formed huge lakes which emergency workers are closely monitoring.

In Tibet, Chinese rescuers near the border port hit by the mudslide were moved to safety on Sunday after a new lake was formed by a landslide, according to state media. China has so far confirmed 16 deaths in Tibet and 546 people missing.

On the Nepal side, the disaster agency on Sunday raised the number of missing to 2,502, with 781 confirmed deaths.

With morgues overwhelmed and no proper freezing facilities, authorities in Nepal have had to begin burials before identification is complete. Officials say DNA samples have been taken so families can later claim their loved ones and perform traditional funeral rites.

At identification centres, grieving relatives gathered to watch LED screens showing pictures of recovered bodies, some closing their eyes when it all became too much.

Walking out of one centre next to a makeshift morgue, Shobha Adhikary told a coordinator she thought she had seen her childhood best friend.

“It looks like him, for sure,” she said, showing a photo of a smiling, middle-aged man. “My husband and I are best friends with Rajkumar and his wife Geeta.” Geeta has also been missing since Wednesday.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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