RNZ reports that a list of rescued foreign travellers released by the Nepal Tourism Board late on Friday did not identify any New Zealanders, though the nationalities of three of the 121 people were yet to be confirmed.

The US Geological Survey said the disaster, the deadliest for Nepal since a 2015 earthquake, was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.

The deluge of ice and mud also caused huge lakes to form, with one of these formations becoming a direct threat to emergency workers scouring the region for survivors.

Nepali police urged all rescuers to “immediately move to a safe location”, saying it had received information that “a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side”.

Separately in Tibet, China had earlier on Friday paused its rescue operation at the hardest-hit area of Gyirong over the risk of renewed flooding, before later saying the threat had eased.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that a lake formed by piles of debris began overflowing towards where rescue teams were headed, but later said the water level of the pool was dropping so “the risk is gradually decreasing”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who chaired a meeting on rescue efforts on Friday, offered Beijing’s help to Nepal’s emergency operations.

Emergency teams had been racing to retrieve survivors from affected zones, where the widespread devastation meant food and water supplies were running out.

The Nepali military had meanwhile located people trapped in the tunnel of Trishuli 3A hydropower project, where they were working to find a way in to extract the survivors.

Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said: “Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel.”

Some 350 workers and residents have been brought to safety from the site, he said, but efforts were ongoing to rescue more than 100 people trapped in the same area.

Workers rescued from other dam projects along the Trishuli valley described a disaster that unfolded with terrifying speed.

Buddha Tamang told AFP he survived only because he was inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked when the flood struck.

Survivors in a makeshift Nepali hospital endured an agonising wait for news of their missing loved ones.

In India, authorities said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims.

Across the border in Tibet, which is largely inaccessible to foreign journalists and where the only sources of information are Chinese authorities, officials say 558 people are missing and five died.

Authorities also said they had evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 Chinese residents from Tibet.

– AFP