Nepal-Tibet floods: River water smashed into tunnel and chased me, hydropower engineer says

He says more people could have been saved if proper resources had been in place.

This is echoed by a new report which says there was evidence of growing instability around the glacier in the days before the disaster – and that better early warning systems could have saved lives.

Satellite images suggest the glacier surface was moving faster, meltwater was turning brown and a crack was developing in the surrounding rock, according to experts from the Asian Mountain Academic Alliance, the Stimson Centre and China’s Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment.

These are all possible signs the mountainside was becoming unstable.

The avalanche itself moved too fast for conventional warnings to help those closest to it, the scientists say.

But further downstream, where the flood took 10 minutes or more to arrive, they say a comprehensive warning system could potentially have saved a significant number of lives.

Right now, however, specialists from China, India and Nepal are continuing to use excavators and heavy machinery to blast through debris from the hydropower projects to try to reach workers still trapped at several hydropower sites.

“There are probably still some survivors inside. I would be happy if they were rescued quickly,” Tamang says.

“I know many people who are still trapped there.”