By Gopal Sharma, Sahana Bajracharya and Navesh Chitrakar
TRISHULI, Nepal/BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Rescue workers searched for hundreds of people still missing on Thursday after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and China’s Tibet a day earlier, triggering catastrophic flooding that swept through mountain towns and valleys, killing scores of people.
Officials at Nepal’s tourism ministry told media outlets that around 340 foreigners were among more than 400 tourists missing after the disaster, which hit a mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Some 157 bodies had been recovered so far, Nepal police said late on Wednesday.
Verified videos showed crushing masses of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at the border, with authorities in both China and Nepal fearing far higher casualties and massive destruction.
Houses, roads and power projects were washed away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” after a mudslide hit a border land crossing in the county of Gyirong.
“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,” said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor, who was being treated at a small hospital.
“Four or five hours later, a helicopter came to rescue me. My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She’s gone.”
Another survivor described being saved by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.
Early reports from Nepali officials suggested an earthquake in the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods.
The U.S. Geological Survey later said what was initially reported as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake recorded at the time of the disaster was seismic energy generated by the glacial rock and ice collapsing and the flow of debris.
Many of the victims were on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet that is revered by Hindus, Buddhists and others. Mount Kailash, believed by Hindus to be the abode of Lord Shiva, lies on the banks of Lake Mansarovar, also seen by various religions as sacred.
Sunil Sharma, a Nepal tourism board spokesperson, told the Associated Press that 47 of the missing tourists were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said: “The State Department is aware of Americans impacted by the floods in Nepal and is closely tracking the situation.”
Canada was also closely following the situation, said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on X, calling the floods “absolutely devastating.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said U.N. teams and partners were mobilising supplies and personnel in Nepal to support communities affected by the disaster.
China’s state broadcaster said three people were killed and 265 missing in Gyirong. It said the toll was still being verified and rescue efforts were ongoing.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said 34 Australians were missing.
“Nepal, you know, is a developing country. It doesn’t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult,” he said.
South Korea said eight of its nationals working on a hydropower plant were missing, while Malaysia and Japan also reported missing nationals.
VIDEOS SHOW PEOPLE SWEPT AWAY WHILE FLEEING
Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border showed many people fleeing before a torrent of rock, mud and water destroyed buildings and vehicles and took many lives.
Locals from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading were seen gathering outside a Nepali army training centre — the base for helicopter rescue operations — seeking information about missing family members.
Police were recording the names of the missing just outside the barracks gate, using mobile phone flashlights as their only source of light as the area remained without electricity due to damaged hydropower infrastructure.
In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day in the area bringing in survivors.
An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on X.
Rescue helicopters could not 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, with the river flowing above its normal course.
Television images showed collapsed homes, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, while witnesses told Reuters the waters engulfed entire villages.
“There is devastation everywhere we look,” Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa, told Reuters. “The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”
GYIRONG PORT AFFECTED
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region near the border.
A rescuer interviewed by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said they had been trying to establish contact with the Gyirong border port but “so far there haven’t been any results”. All roads leading to the border crossing had been “completely destroyed” after a preliminary inspection with a drone, the rescuer added.
With the deluge of muddy water sweeping down from an estimated nearly 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) above sea level, flood alerts were issued in the populous northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which border Nepal and where several rivers flow down the mountains into the plains.
Authorities in Bihar said they had evacuated about 5,000 people from six districts and planned to evacuate a total of 10,000 to 12,000 people.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma, Sahana Bajracharya, Aftab Ahmed, Liz Lee, Yukun Zhang, Xiuhao Chen, Shi Bu, Sakshi Dayal, Kanjyik Ghosh, and Jatindra Dash; Editing by Stwephen Coates)
