Flash flood on Nepal-Tibet border kills about 160; hundreds of tourists missing

Sunil Sharma, a tourism board spokesperson, said 133 were from India on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus.

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Though the current monsoon season is less favorable for trekking in Nepal, it's a major season for Kailash trekking, which follows the route in Nepal's Rasuwa district.

attribution · Sunil Sharma

At least 62 missing Nepali citizens were among hundreds of locals trekking in the Gosaikunda Lake area in hard-hit Rasuwa district bordering Tibet's Gyirong, coinciding with the local festival of Janai Purnima on Friday, Sharma said.

attribution · Sunil Sharma

The Bhotekoshi flooded around 9 a.m. Wednesday, destroying several villages and hydropower projects, officials said.

attribution · officials

Also missing were 47 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada, he said.

attribution · Sunil Sharma

Also missing were 47 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada, he said.

attribution · Sunil Sharma

Malaysia's foreign ministry said its embassy received reports from travel agencies that they had lost contact with 11 Malaysians believed to be in Rasuwa district.

attribution · Malaysia's foreign ministry

"Hydrological observations indicate the exceptional speed and magnitude of the flood wave," they said in an emailed statement, noting that water levels at one point on the Trishuli river rose by as much as nine meters (27 feet) over half an hour.

attribution · ICIMOD

Some United Nations bodies were deploying "in an effort to meet what will clearly be massive humanitarian need," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

attribution · Stephane Dujarric

Officials said work was under way to establish the whereabouts of 579 tourists, including 466 foreigners from 28 different countries.

attribution · Officials

Ram Kumar Adhikari, the manager of Alpine Eco Trek, said two Irish nationals and four South African nationals who were also on the excursion are believed to be missing.

attribution · Ram Kumar Adhikari

The authorities say the main road to Kathmandu is closed.

attribution · The authorities

The ages of the missing British citizens range from 13 to 65, according to travel logs shared with PA news agency.

attribution · travel logs shared with PA news agency

The Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs warned there was likely to be huge loss of life in Timure, Syabrubesi and Betrawati.

attribution · Ministry of Home Affairs

Nepal Army Spokesman Rajarm Basnet told the BBC efforts were under way to rescue 115 people from the village of Mailung.

attribution · Rajarm Basnet

Yee Liang, a Chinese businessman based in Kathmandu, told the BBC his logistics company had seven container trucks based in the area, staffed by Nepalese employees.

"We have lost contact with all of them. There is no signal, so we cannot reach anyone," he said.

attribution · Yee Liang

Nepal's Foreign Affairs minister Shishir Khanal told parliament that 26 police personnel, nine armed police officers and 44 members of the military were missing.

attribution · Shishir Khanal

The extent of the damage on the Tibetan side is unclear but the BBC spoke to Guan Daoxuan in Sichuan province who said he had lost contact with his wife late on Wednesday morning.

She works for a state-run construction company involved in building roads and bridges in Tibet.

attribution · Guan Daoxuan

Guan said Nepalese authorities had tried to send a helicopter to inspect the area because road access had been cut off, but strong winds were making it difficult for the aircraft to reach the site.

attribution · Guan Daoxuan

"Department of State staff in Washington, D.C., and Kathmandu are monitoring the situation and are in touch with the Government of Nepal," it said. "The United States stands ready to provide assistance."

attribution · U.S. Embassy

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also said it will send $1.2 million in emergency funding to the Nepal Red Cross.

attribution · IFRC

The World Health Organization in Nepal said it sent emergency medical supplies to affected communities, including medicines and tents, CNN reported.

attribution · WHO in Nepal

Security forces led by the Nepali army said 114 people were flown to safety.

attribution · Security forces led by the Nepali army

An Indian spiritual guru and entrepreneur known as Sadhguru, whose foundation organizes pilgrimage tours to Mount Kailash, said 77 of its tourists were at the immigration center of the Nepal-Tibet border when the flood hit, The New York Times reported.

"There has been no official information on the whereabouts of any of the people who were at the immigration office," he wrote in a post on X. "We are working with the authorities to see if we can get to the location and stand ready to be part of the rescue efforts."

attribution · Sadhguru

Chinese responders worked to clear roads in Gyirong county in Tibet to get to victims, a local military official told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Ongoing rain complicated that effort.

"Right now, the various loaders and excavators are being used to clear a path," Chen Xi, of the Gyirong Border Defense Company of Tibet's Shigatse Military sub-command, told CCTV Wednesday evening.

Chen noted some units were waiting at a command center due to the risk of more landslides.

attribution · a local military official

The waters were too high for helicopters to 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.

attribution · officials

President Xi Jinping urged "all-out" efforts to search for the missing, and called for strengthening monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.

attribution · Xi Jinping

Meanwhile, an Indian official announced that India's Bihar state had begun evacuating people from six districts as they feared the floods would reach those areas.

attribution · an Indian official

Eight South Koreans working on a hydropower plant were missing, and 10 others were stranded, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

attribution · South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The workers were employed by two companies, Korea Energy and Doosan Enerbility Co, the ministry said, adding that Nepal has deployed a rescue team to search the affected area.

attribution · South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

According to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, 391 foreign nationals and 93 Nepalis were out of contact.

attribution · Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers

Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, citing a preliminary analysis of Planet Labs satellite imagery, said in the evening that a rock-and-ice landslide along the Nepal-China border, about 20 km northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing, caused a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, a tributary of Bhotekoshi, that flowed through Timure and entered the Trishuli River.

attribution · National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority

Stating that the government immediately mobilised all its resources for rescue operations, he vowed that rescue operations would continue through the night.

attribution · Balendra Shah

Officials at the Flood Forecasting Division had separately said they received information that a landslide may have blocked a river in Tibet before water burst through.

In an update at 1.35 p.m., the division said, citing information from the Chinese side, that the blocked river had yet to fully open.

attribution · Flood Forecasting Division

A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday afternoon directed authorities to urgently restore roads, electricity and telecommunications in the affected areas and to mobilise resources to rebuild damaged public infrastructure.

attribution · A Cabinet meeting

"I got a call from [my brother-in-law] this morning, and they were crying and said their entire house had been swept away. Three family members were rescued, but his brother is still missing," said 56-year-old Raju Bhadel.

attribution · Raju Bhadel

Sarthak Shrestha, a remote sensing and geo-information analyst at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said a preliminary assessment showed "no anomalies" from China's side of the border.

attribution · Sarthak Shrestha

Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at ICIMOD, said a second flood may be imminent.

"With a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur," he told AFP.

attribution · Qianggong Zhang

Several highways were also closed, Nepali authorities said.

attribution · Nepali authorities

Traffic authorities in Tibet's Shigatse said roads in the area were "at risk of mudslides and unsafe for passage" in a post on social media on Wednesday.

attribution · Traffic authorities in Tibet's Shigatse

In July last year, 17 people went missing after a mudslide near the Gyirong Port, Xinhua reported at the time.

attribution · Xinhua