Emergency aid flights are landing in Nepal, with relief workers who will try to locate and rescue victims of Saturday's deadly earthquake.
A British Royal Air Force plane loaded with aid is among the flights that have been sent to Nepal. British volunteers are already helping with search-and-rescue operations.
The scene is a chaotic one at the small airport in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu. The onslaught of earthquake relief flights is causing major backups on the tarmac. India's defense ministry says four Indian air force planes carrying communication gear, aid supplies and rescue personnel were forced to return to New Delhi today because of airport congestion.
The number of dead from the quake has soared past 4,000, even as rescue workers struggle to reach mountain villages in the hardest-hit area.
Meanwhile, a World Vision aid worker who has reached the epicenter of Saturday's powerful quake in Nepal says it doesn't appear that much aid has reached the area ahead of him.
Matt Darvas spoke to the AP by phone from Nepal's Gorkha district.
Landslides and other destruction delayed attempts to reach the district earlier, but Gorkha is feared to have extensive damage.
Darvas says most of the newer concrete buildings were intact after the quake but remote mountainside villages were reportedly devastated.
He says, "Further north from here the reports are very disturbing." He says up to 75% of the buildings in Singla may have collapsed and the village, a two-days walk away, has been out of contact since Saturday night.
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The State Department says at least four Americans have died in Nepal's earthquake.
Spokesman Jeff Rathke says all of the U.S. citizens were killed at the Mt. Everest base camp.
He identified two as Ely Taplin and Vinh B. Truong.
The other two haven't been named yet, either because consular officials haven't confirmed their identities or next of kin haven't been notified. (AP)
