Himalayan Flash Floods: Death Toll Climbs Past 270, Over 1,300 Missing

Himalayan Flash Floods: Death Toll Climbs Past 270, Over 1,300 Missing

Rescue teams are searching for survivors in the aftermath of catastrophic flash floods that struck the border region between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, after a glacial collapse sent a massive wall of mud and rock barreling through Himalayan communities. Authorities in both countries report at least 270 deaths, with more than 1,300 people still missing.

Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said at least 165 people have been killed and 826 people are missing in the Himalayan flash floods. Separately, police reported at least 270 dead and 826 missing, while authorities in both countries have reported at least 273 deaths overall as of Thursday.

The disaster struck when a glacial collapse triggered a flood in the Lhende Khola river, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, in a corridor popular with trekkers and pilgrims connecting Kathmandu with Lhasa. The flood swept through several communities, destroying entire villages.

Death Toll and Missing Figures

Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said more than 800 people were missing in the country, almost 600 of them foreign nationals. Local reports cited the National Emergency Operation Center as saying the missing included 113 Nepali tourists, 85 security personnel from the Army and police, as well as 161 residents from the Rasuwa district and one from the Nuwakot district.

In Tibet, Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported 558 people missing in Gyirong county, including 260 foreigners. Three deaths had been confirmed there as of Thursday morning, with two villagers rescued. China's Foreign Ministry said nearly 100 Chinese citizens were missing on the Nepal side.

Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told Reuters that the death toll was expected to climb: "This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered."

The number of missing from Wednesday's disaster may vary across agencies because of differences in how they collected data, when it was reported and how it was verified, as well as gaps in coordination between those assembling data and those conducting rescue efforts in the affected area.

International Impact

Among those missing in Nepal were large numbers of foreign tourists. Neighboring India accounts for the largest proportion of missing foreign nationals. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that 288 Indians were unaccounted for in Nepal, while a further 200 were stranded in China awaiting rescue.

Sunil Sharma, a Nepal tourism board spokesperson, told the AP news agency that many of the missing were pilgrims traveling to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a site sacred to Hindus. In addition to the Indian tourists, Sharma said 47 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons and 24 Canadians were also missing. Reuters cited other police and tourism officials who put the missing tourists at 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

The National Tourism Board later said 517 foreigners were missing. Nepal's tourism board said 179 of those missing were from India, 65 from the United States, and 51 Malaysians were missing. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said 55 Ukrainians are missing, including two tourist groups of 47 and seven people, in addition to one Ukrainian woman traveling with a foreign tour group. The board also reported 35 Australians, 33 Britons, 25 Canadians, eight Singaporeans, eight Germans, eight Russians, six South Africans, six Latvians, five New Zealanders, four French citizens, three Belgians, three Spaniards, and two each from Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Additionally, one person each from Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Philippines, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia and Sweden were missing.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed worry about five Japanese nationals whom local media reported were missing. South Korean government officials said nine citizens working on building a hydropower plant in Nepal were missing.

Cause and Response

The US Geological Survey initially recorded the event as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake near the border, but later said it was seismic energy generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice. Climate scientists at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development told the AP that an ice-rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream. Disaster risk specialist Saswata Sanyal stressed the need for early-warning systems in "a warming Himalaya." A Kathmandu-based study earlier this year found glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya are melting at a faster rate, with melting doubling since 2000.

More than 5,000 army and police personnel have been mobilized in Nepal, according to army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet. Chinese premier Li Qiang has traveled to affected areas in Tibet to view the emergency work, state media reported.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies released $1.4 million (€1.2 million) for relief. Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Nepal "is a developing country" and lacks resources for detailed information. The US State Department is sending a disaster response adviser and $500,000 in assistance.

Survivor Accounts

Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor, told Reuters: "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."

Sagar Pandey, who heads a Himalayan tourism operator, surveyed the area by helicopter and saw that entire settlements had vanished. "Everything is just flat," he said.