Rescuers Search for Hundreds Missing in Devastating Nepal and Tibet Floods
A catastrophic flood triggered by a mountain landslide and glacial collapse has claimed hundreds of lives and left over 1,400 people missing along the border of Nepal and Tibet. The disaster has severely damaged regional infrastructure, washing away roads and suspension bridges and stranding roughly a quarter-million residents. Emergency teams are searching for survivors amid urgent warnings of potential secondary flooding from blocked rivers.
Emergency teams and helicopter crews searched Himalayan valleys Thursday after a catastrophic flood of water, mud, and ice swept through a remote river valley on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to a report by The New York Times. Hundreds have been killed and more than 1,400 remain missing after the disaster destroyed entire mountain communities.
The flood erased more than 25 miles of roads and destroyed 40 suspension bridges, stranding an estimated 250,000 Nepalis. Keshav Sharma, former head of Nepal's infrastructure and transport ministry, said delivering aid to isolated communities will require carving new paths through the mud and debris.
Authorities in both countries have warned of further flooding risk. Chinese officials said the landslide that triggered Wednesday's flood also blocked local rivers, forming an unstable lake at risk of bursting and causing more damage downstream. Nepal's disaster management agency has urged residents to evacuate riverbanks.
The New York Times, reporting from the disaster zone, described widespread destruction and residents fearing they'll never find missing relatives. One villager recalled hearing a thunderclap before muddy water swept away his wife and two daughters: "They all died and I lived," he said, adding he still holds a faint hope they survived.
The flood struck without warning as it moved from southern Tibet into Nepal, with survivors describing debris-laden water that crushed homes and swept away people attempting to flee. Rajan Khatri, a 41-year-old police officer recovering in a Kathmandu hospital, said: "I cannot explain how big the waves were. They engulfed several meters-high buildings in a fraction of seconds."
Scientists believe the disaster was triggered by a rock landslide coinciding with the collapse of a high-altitude glacier near the border Wednesday morning. Experts say global warming may have destabilized the rock face, but caution it's too early to confirm the exact cause.
Nepali authorities have confirmed at least 469 deaths; Chinese officials reported three deaths in Tibet. The toll is expected to rise. As of Friday morning, nearly 1,000 people remained missing in Nepal, including about 500 foreign tourists, while Chinese state media reported at least 558 missing in Tibet's Gyirong County, including 260 foreign nationals.