Floods along Nepal-Tibet border leave 157 dead
Photo: REUTERS
A massive collapse of a rock and mud wall into a river along the Himalayan border of Nepal and Tibet, China on Wednesday unleashed floods on the Nepali side.
The disaster killed many people and left hundreds of tourists missing. As night fell, rescue crews performed the grim duty of retrieving and identifying victims. The Nepal Police confirmed late Wednesday that rescuers had recovered 157 bodies so far.
As the catastrophe unfolded, verified video footage captured dozens of individuals being swept away at the border, raising fears among authorities in both nations of escalating death tolls and widespread devastation.
The rampaging waters destroyed homes, roads, and hydroelectric facilities in Nepal, while Tibetan officials expressed grave concerns of “major casualties” after a landslide struck a border land crossing in Gyirong county.
Although initial reports from Nepali officials pointed to an earthquake triggering a glacial collapse, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) later clarified that the falling glacial ice and rock hitting the valley floor actually generated the recorded seismic activity.
Meanwhile, Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism informed reporters that the missing list includes more than 400 tourists, about 340 of whom are foreign nationals. Sunil Sharma, a spokesperson for the Nepal Tourism Board, told the Associated Press that 133 of these missing travelers had arrived from India on a religious journey.
He specified that the missing include 47 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons, and 24 Canadians.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that UN teams and partners are mobilizing emergency supplies and rescue personnel in Nepal to aid the stricken populations.
A US State Department spokesperson said, “The State Department is aware of Americans impacted by the floods in Nepal and is closely tracking the situation.” On the social media platform X, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed that Canada is monitoring the situation, describing the floods as “absolutely devastating.”
The catastrophe occurred along a popular travel corridor toward Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet, which draws hundreds of Hindu pilgrims from India and other countries every year, especially during this season.
China’s state broadcaster reported three fatalities and 265 missing individuals in Gyirong, noting that rescuers are still active while officials verify the exact casualties. South Korea announced that eight South Korean citizens employed at a hydroelectric facility remain missing.
Closed-circuit television footage from the Chinese side of the border showed terrified crowds running for safety before a massive wave of mud, rock, and water crushed buildings and vehicles, claiming numerous lives.
German Research Centre for Geosciences detected a 4.4-magnitude tremor about seven minutes before the timestamp shown on the security footage. Residents from the hard-hit areas of Nuwakot and Dhading congregated outside a Nepali Army training center - the primary staging ground for airborne rescue missions - desperately seeking news about their relatives.
Outside the military gates, police officers hand-recorded the names of missing persons under the glow of mobile phone flashlights, as the wrecked power grid left the entire area in complete darkness.
Mudslides submerged and buried houses, vehicles, and trees across the disaster zone while helicopters patrolled the skies throughout the day to transport survivors.
On X, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported that an initial analysis of Planet Labs satellite images suggested a rock and ice landslide triggered the debris-filled surge in the Lhende River, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and China.
However, turbulent river waters spilling over normal banks prevented rescue helicopters from landing in the mountainous Rasuwa district towns of Syapru Besi and Timure, home to about 50,000 residents.
Broadcast television footage showed flattened homes, drifting vehicles, and the destruction of a steel bridge, while eyewitnesses told Reuters that the torrent swallowed entire communities. “There is devastation everywhere we look,” said Tula Bahadur BK, a healthcare worker in Rasuwa, in an interview with Reuters, adding, “The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”
Meanwhile, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that the landslide struck the Gyirong port, severing electricity, roads, and communication infrastructure across the border-adjacent Shigatse region.
A rescuer told Chinese state television CCTV that crews had attempted to reach the Gyirong border outpost but “so far there haven’t been any results”. Drone flights revealed that the disaster had “completely destroyed” all roads leading to the crossing, the rescue worker added.
Because the torrent of mud and water cascaded from a height of nearly 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) above sea level, authorities issued critical flood warnings in the densely populated northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where major rivers flow from the Himalayas into the lowlands.
In Bihar, emergency officials evacuated around 5,000 residents across six districts, with plans to relocate between 10,000 and 12,000 people in total.
Source: Reuters (adapted)
