Gyirong County, Xigaze City, Xizang Autonomous Region, southwest China - Aug 29, 2026 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of helicopter flying, heavy machinery along river
2. Various of excavators working, turbulent river
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wu Xin, commander, rescue team, China Anneng (starting with shot 2/partially overlaid with shot 4/ending with shots 5-6) (with reporter asking question):
"The biggest challenge today is that the roadbed is completely gone, and we're operating in a very confined space. So we've been using excavators to dig out the silt in relay, while reinforcing the foundation with large rocks."
(Reporter: "How much progress have you made so far today?")
"So far, we've repaired about 150 meters of roadway, excavated 12,000 cubic meters of silt, and repaired 100 meters of washed-out roadbed. We've reopened the first curve where the roadbed had been entirely destroyed. That gives us a solid footing for the next phase of rescue and relief work."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
4. Excavators working, rescuers
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
5. Excavators working, rescuers
6. Various of excavators working, turbulent river

Rescuers on Saturday restored the first sharp-curve section on the national highway G216 -- where the roadbed had been completely destroyed -- preparing for full reopening of this critical lifeline to the mudslide-hit border port of Gyirong in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

The repair work on this section has been complicated by persistent light rain, thick mud deposits and the limited space available for operations.

With excavators working in shifts, the sharp-curve stretch was largely repaired by 17:00 Saturday.

"The biggest challenge today is that the roadbed is completely gone, and we're operating in a very confined space. So we've been using excavators to dig out the silt in relay, while reinforcing the foundation with large rocks. So far, we've repaired about 150 meters of roadway, excavated 12,000 cubic meters of silt, and repaired 100 meters of washed-out roadbed. We've reopened the first curve where the roadbed had been entirely destroyed. That gives us a solid footing for the next phase of rescue and relief work," said Wu Xin, commander of a rescue team from China Anneng, a state-owned engineering and rescue enterprise.

The deadly mudslide, triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse on the Nepalese side, had left 16 people dead and 546 others missing in Gyirong on the Chinese side, as of 18:00 Saturday, according to a press conference held by local authorities on Sunday.