Hundreds Missing After Devastating Flood Hits Nepal-Tibet Border, 95 Bodies Recovered

KATHMANDU/BEIJING—A huge wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and China’s Tibet on Wednesday, triggering catastrophic flooding on the Nepali side that killed scores of people and left hundreds of tourists missing.

In a still-unfolding disaster, verified videos showed dozens of people swept away at the border, with authorities on both ‌sides fearing far higher casualties and massive destruction.

Houses, roads, and power projects were swept away in Nepal, ⁠while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” with some missing in the county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a border land crossing.

“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us. As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud,” said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor, who was being treated at a small hospital.

“Four or five hours later, a helicopter came to rescue me. My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She’s gone.”

Another survivor described being saved by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.

Initial reports suggested that an earthquake in the area could have triggered an avalanche and caused the floods, Nepal’s foreign minister Shisir Khanal told the country’s parliament on Wednesday, local media reported.

Some 95 bodies have been recovered and are yet to be identified, the office of Nepal’s prime minister said, adding that 484 tourists were missing, of whom 391 were foreigners and 93 Nepalis.

The missing foreign travelers included more than 100 Indians, three U.S. citizens and 12 British nationals, Nepal’s tourism ministry said. How many local people were also missing was not clear.

The region lies on a popular route to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet, a site visited annually by hundreds of Hindu pilgrims from India and elsewhere, particularly at this time of year.

China’s state broadcaster said three people were killed and 265 others remain missing in Gyirong, the first casualty figures provided for the Chinese side of the border. It said the toll was still being verified and rescue efforts were ongoing.

South Korea separately said that eight of its nationals working on a hydropower plant were missing.

Flood alerts were issued in the populous northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as they border Nepal and several rivers flow down the mountains into their plains.

Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border showed many people fleeing before a wall of rock, mud, and water destroyed buildings, vehicles, and took many lives.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences said there was a 4.4-magnitude quake approximately seven minutes before the time shown on the security footage time-stamp.

Locals from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading were seen gathering outside a Nepali army training center – the base for helicopter rescue operations – seeking information about missing family members.

Police were recording the names of the missing just outside the barracks gate, using mobile phone flashlights as their only source of light as the area remained without electricity due to damaged hydropower infrastructure.

In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were seen submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day in the area bringing in survivors.

An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende river, about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on X.

Rescue helicopters ‌could not land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said, with the river flowing above its normal course.

Television images showed crumbled homes in the flood waters, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed ​away, while witnesses told Reuters the waters engulfed entire villages.

“There could be heavy casualties or loss of property,” said district administrator Narendra Pariyar, who urged dwellers on the banks of the Bhote Koshi river to move ​to higher ground, after reports of villages and project sites being swept up.

“There is devastation everywhere we look,” Tula ​Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa, told Reuters. “The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”

China’s state media Xinhua said the mudslide occurred on the Nepali side and hit ⁠the Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications, and power links in the Shigatse region near the border, but did not elaborate.

A rescuer told state broadcaster CCTV that it would take at least four hours for the team to reach the site due to the 1.5-meter (5-foot) deep sediment that blocked pathways leading to the affected area. The debris had surged upstream from the Nepalese ​side of the crossing, the rescuer said.

Nepal’s energy ministry said 430 MW of electricity supplies were affected, mostly from hydroelectric projects, or more than 12 percent ​of total national hydropower capacity of 3.2 GW, a Reuters calculation ​showed.

Police and military ‌were joining in the rescue effort, said Prime Minister Balendra Shah.

“Instructions have been given … to move the people living in the lower areas to safer places,” he said. “People along the river are advised to exercise extra caution and remain alert.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi was ready to provide all possible humanitarian assistance and teams from the two countries were coordinating ‌closely on rescue and relief efforts.

From its origins in Tibet, the Bhote Koshi river empties into Nepal’s Trishuli river that eventually flows into India as the Gandak river.

Last year’s Bhote Koshi flood killed ⁠nine people, with 24 missing, as it washed away a “Friendship Bridge” linking Nepal and China to disrupt trade and transport for months.

That flood was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet, a regional ​climate monitor said.