More than 1,000 missing after flash flood devastates Nepal and Tibet border regions

Trishuli, Nepal. Rescuers searched debris-strewn valleys and hillsides on Thursday after a collapse of ice, mud and rock into a mountain river triggered catastrophic flash flooding in Nepal and neighbouring China. More than 1,000 people were reported missing, while authorities expected the death toll to rise beyond 270.

Search and rescue operations

Nepalese authorities deployed helicopters to search for survivors and deliver emergency supplies to thousands stranded in towns and valleys after Wednesday’s disaster.

The flooding swept across a road used by trekkers and pilgrims linking Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet. Police said dozens of bodies had been carried downstream into the plains, where they were being recovered.

Missing visitors and workers

Nepal Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said the priority remained locating survivors. Rescue teams had located 100 missing Indian visitors, mostly pilgrims, and 25 Chinese workers in the worst-hit area around Trishuli.

More than 650 foreign nationals remained unaccounted for in Nepal, while authorities had yet to establish the number of missing local residents.

Survivor account

Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor receiving treatment at a Nepali hospital, said he saw a large flow of mud approaching his home.

“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,” he said. “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.”

Baral was taken to safety by helicopter four hours later. He said his wife remained buried beneath the mud.

Situation in Tibet

In Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people were missing, including 260 foreign nationals, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday. China said its death toll remained at three.

The missing foreign nationals across Nepal and Tibet were from more than two dozen countries, including 288 more from India, 63 from the United States, 51 from Malaysia, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

China’s foreign ministry said it was in close communication with Nepal over search and rescue operations. Nearly 100 Chinese nationals were in the affected area on the Nepal side of the border, it said.