Nearly 3,000 still missing after deadly Nepal floods, including 29 Latvians

A wall of water and debris tore through the mountainous border area between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, killing at least 682 people and triggering a massive rescue operation. By Friday, Chinese officials reported 260 foreign nationals still missing, while Nepal's disaster agency put the figure at 517 foreign nationals unaccounted for.

Nepal's tourism board said 622 tourists remained out of contact, 473 of them foreigners. The board's list included 98 people from India, 61 from Ukraine, 51 from Malaysia, 33 from Britain, and 29 from Latvia, along with 25 Canadians, nine South Koreans and nine Singaporeans. Also unaccounted for were nine Russians, eight Germans, six South Africans, five Japanese, five New Zealanders and four French nationals.

Other countries represented on the missing list include Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Italy, Belarus, Finland, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Serbia, Switzerland, Sweden and Vietnam. The US State Department said Thursday that 90 American citizens were unaccounted for, and Australia said Saturday its missing-nationals count had climbed to 41. Spain's Foreign Ministry confirmed three of its citizens remained missing. China has not broken down the nationalities of the foreigners it counts as missing.

EU pledges support

The European Union said it would back relief efforts, activating its Copernicus satellite Earth-observation system to help track the disaster's aftermath. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would allocate €2 million in humanitarian aid to support families and communities hit hardest by the floods.