49 Indians among 261 missing foreigners in flash floods near Tibet-Nepal border, say officials

Following a devastating flash flood at Gyirong Port, one of the key border crossings between Nepal and Tibet, on August 26, Chinese officials said Sunday that 261 foreign nationals, including 49 Indians, remain missing.Chinese officials told a media conference in Gyirong that the 261 foreigners are from 23 countries, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.The media conference was held after emergency management, public security, foreign affairs, and cultural and tourism authorities conducted a coordinated search and cross-check of data.According to the report, those unaccounted for include 104 people from Nepal, 49 from India, 33 from Latvia, 18 from the US, 15 from Britain, six each from Canada and Australia, four from South Africa, three each from Malaysia, Germany and Russia, two each from Ireland, Estonia, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and one each from Kazakhstan, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain and Hungary.Many Indian pilgrims were travelling to Tibet for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra after ties between India and China improved.When the flash flood struck Gyirong County in Tibet, several Indian pilgrims were reportedly at the immigration facility at the Tibet-Nepal border.Videos showing the massive flash flood engulfing the sprawling immigration building went viral worldwide.Bodies have been recovered by emergency teams stationed downstream across several districts, with Chitwan reporting the highest number of deaths at 248, police said.Nepal Police has deployed 4,854 security personnel across the disaster-hit areas to oversee rescue operations, search for the missing and protect affected people.Meanwhile, the death toll from the Nepal flash floods has risen to 734, according to the disaster authority.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.