Nepal-Tibet border mudslide kills scores as hundreds of tourists remain missing

Kathmandu, Nepal. A wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border between Nepal and China’s Tibet on Wednesday, triggering catastrophic flooding in Nepal that killed scores of people and left hundreds of tourists missing.

Flooding and destruction

Verified videos showed dozens of people being swept away at the border as authorities on both sides warned that casualties and destruction could be far greater.

Houses, roads and power projects were swept away in Nepal. Officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties”, with people reported missing in Gyirong county after a mudslide struck a border land crossing.

Survivor accounts

Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated at a small hospital, said he saw a huge rush of mud approaching his home.

“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,” he said.

Baral said a helicopter rescued him four or five hours later and that his wife remained beneath the mud.

Another survivor said he was saved after clinging to a mango tree while the house where he had been working disappeared.

Missing tourists

Initial reports from Nepali officials indicated that an earthquake in the area may have caused the lower section of a glacier to collapse, triggering the floods.

Nepal’s prime minister’s office said 95 bodies had been recovered but had not yet been identified. It reported that 484 tourists were missing, including 391 foreigners and 93 Nepalis.

Nepal’s tourism ministry said the missing foreign travellers included more than 100 Indians, three US citizens and 12 British nationals. The number of missing local residents was not clear.