More than 1,300 missing in Nepal and China after deadly Himalayan flood

More than 1,300 people, including more than 700 foreign nationals, are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.

Nepalese police and tourism officials confirmed on Thursday that more than 500 foreigners were among 823 people missing in Nepal.

At least 270 bodies have been recovered by authorities in Nepal, police said, while Chinese state media reported at least three deaths in Tibet.

Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 are from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada.

Across the border in Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Rescuers in Nepal have deployed helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands of people cut off in a rugged mountainous area popular with trekkers and pilgrims travelling between Lhasa in Tibet and the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

Video footage verified by news agencies showed rapid torrents of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong, while downstream in Nepal, homes, roads, and power infrastructure were destroyed.

Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said helicopters were dropping tents, food, and medicine provided by neighbouring India into the hardest-hit districts. More than 5,000 army and police rescue personnel joined the rescue effort that retrieved 125 people on Thursday, including 20 foreigners, he said.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah left by road for Bidur in one of the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot, to assess the flood situation, his office said on social media.

Early reports from Nepalese officials suggested an earthquake in the area may have caused the lower section of a glacier to collapse, triggering the flash floods.

However, the US Geological Survey noted that the seismic event, initially recorded as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake, was actually the seismic energy generated by the sudden collapse of glacial rock and ice, followed by a huge debris flow.

Chinese authorities warned that a still-dammed lake in Gyirong, upstream from the flood-affected border crossing, poses further risks and could severely complicate rescue efforts in the area, CCTV reported.

Many of those caught in the disaster were on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar, high-altitude sites in Tibet revered by Hindus, Buddhists, and followers of other faiths.

Some 77 Hindu pilgrims were at the Nepal-China border immigration office when the flood hit on Wednesday, popular Indian spiritual leader Sadhguru, whose real name is Jagdish Vasudev, said in a video message from Tibet on his social media accounts.

The pilgrims were part of several Hindu groups organised by the Isha Foundation of Sadhguru, who had been visiting Mount Kailash.

“Literally, the entire group was there in the building; this is a terrible and extraordinary event,” he said.

The US State Department announced it was dispatching a disaster response adviser and providing $500,000 in emergency aid.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the flooding as “devastating”, adding that Canadian officials were monitoring the situation closely.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed that UN teams were delivering emergency supplies and support staff to affected communities in Nepal.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted that gathering clear information from the remote area remained challenging due to limited local infrastructure and resources.

Sagar Pandey, chief executive of a Himalayan tourism operator, said 15 Indian-Australian pilgrims travelling with his company were among the missing.

“There are no human-made structures, no human settlements left. Everything is just flat,” he said after conducting an aerial survey of the disaster zone. “Anyone in the hotels, restaurants, or vehicles – I believe everyone is gone.”

CCTV footage from the Chinese side of the border showed residents fleeing as a surge of mud, rocks, and floodwater submerged buildings and vehicles.

Preliminary satellite imagery analysis by Planet Labs indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden surge down the Lhende River, approximately 20km (12 miles) northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and China.

In the affected valleys, thick mud swathed homes, trees, and vehicles, while aerial footage showed collapsed houses, submerged cars, and a metallic bridge washed away by the torrents.

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

Journalist Ramyata Limbu, reporting from Kathmandu, told Al Jazeera that it was too early to assess the potential hit to the Nepalese economy, but the damage was likely to be sizeable.

“Experts say it will be significant. Some have even used the word massive, because in terms of human lives lost, in terms of the economy, livelihoods, in terms of tourism, trade, in terms of hydropower projects, that area was home to several kinds of businesses, enterprises, tourism,” she said.

She added that the affected area is also home to a well-known national park frequented by a large number of tourists every year, as well as a dry port between Nepal and China.

“So in terms of the economy, I think it will set Nepal back by a wide margin, but I think now it’s too early to say,” she added.