Nearly 1,500 people, including almost 800 foreign nationals, remain missing across Nepal and Tibet after a massive wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river, triggering catastrophic flash floods through towns and valleys.
The disaster struck on Wednesday in a rugged mountainous region connecting Lhasa in Tibet with Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, an area popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Rescue teams in Nepal have deployed helicopters to search for survivors and deliver emergency supplies to thousands cut off by the floods.
Police said the death toll had surpassed 165 and was expected to rise as search operations resumed and more bodies were recovered.
In Nepal alone, 826 people were reported missing, including almost 500 foreigners, according to police and tourism officials. The missing tourists came from more than two dozen countries, including 177 Indians, 63 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons and 25 Canadians.
Across the border in Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people were reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. China’s death toll remained at three.
Verified footage showed powerful torrents of water, mud and debris sweeping through a border crossing in Gyirong, destroying homes, roads and power infrastructure. In Nepal, entire settlements were also overwhelmed as the floodwaters travelled downstream.
Survivor Keshav Prasad Baral, 68, described the moment the wall of mud approached his home.
“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,” he said while receiving treatment at a hospital in Nepal.
Baral said the mud continued rising as it approached his home. He tried to take his wife to the terrace, but she was swept away before he could get her to safety.
A helicopter eventually rescued him four hours later, but his wife remains missing beneath the mud.
Another survivor reportedly escaped by clinging to a mango tree while watching the house where he had been working disappear in the flood.
