More than 4,400 people have been rescued or evacuated so far as emergency teams race against time to reach remote settlements cut off after roads and bridges were washed away. Nepalese officials said those rescued included at least 261 foreign tourists who had gone “out of contact”. They comprised 167 Indians, 40 Chinese, eight Ukrainians, four each from Germany and Malta, three from the US and the rest from Turkiye, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Oman, Belgium and Bulgaria.Four Indians were rescued from a hydropower project in Rasuwa while another 120 pilgrims undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra had crossed into Nepal from China.Fresh rain has compounded the challenges, with emergency teams warning that adverse weather and damaged infrastructure were hampering efforts to reach some of the worst-hit areas. Some of the most severely affected locations can now be accessed only by helicopter after roads and bridges were washed away, while the difficult terrain is further complicating rescue operations.A new lake formed upstream of the disaster zone after the initial flooding, raising fears of another surge downstream. Chinese monitoring indicated that the lake had subsequently shrunk from its peak level, but Nepali authorities continued to closely monitor water levels and the risk of further flooding.Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India had despatched six forensic teams to assist in DNA sampling of the mortal remains. India has so far airlifted 57 tonnes of relief material to Nepal.Nepal has mobilised more than 11,000 security personnel, including over 5,000 from the Army, for search and rescue operations.Kathmandu on Saturday praised India’s assistance, with Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle describing the Indian Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “exceptionally generous” and saying New Delhi had indicated it would provide generous assistance for reconstruction.Wagle said the immediate priority was rescuing people stranded or trapped by the floods, followed by recovery and reconstruction. He said efforts were underway to airlift relief supplies to areas such as Dhunche, Rasuwa and Syaphru Besi, which had been cut off following damage to roads.The disaster is believed to have been triggered by an ice-rock avalanche following a glacial collapse near the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday. It sent a torrent of water, mud and debris downstream through central Nepal, devastating towns and villages, washing away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges, and damaging hydropower projects.The scale of the disaster was reflected not only in the devastation left behind but also in extraordinary accounts of survival.In Timure, a town near the Nepal-Tibet border, survivors described scrambling up hillsides as a wall of water, mud and stones swept through the settlement, with houses disappearing within seconds.The scenes left behind have been equally stark. Buildings in some settlements were buried beneath several feet of mud, vehicles were half-submerged and electricity poles lay uprooted amid the debris.Families have been moving through mud and wreckage in search of possessions, while relatives outside hospitals scan lists of survivors and photographs of the dead for news of loved ones. (With PTI inputs)