Catastrophic flash floods in the Himalayan border region of Nepal and Tibet have claimed at least 165 lives, with local officials indicating the death toll is expected to rise. More than 1,000 people are reported missing following the disaster.
Officials in Nepal state that 826 individuals are missing, including 579 tourists from two dozen countries, among them India, the US, Australia, Britain, and Canada. Chinese state media reported 558 people missing in Tibet’s Gyirong county. It is not yet clear if these missing counts are separate or if some individuals have been counted more than once.
The floods were triggered by a massive glacial collapse at 8:37 am on Wednesday. An enormous section of a glacier sheared free and crashed onto the valley floor in Nepal’s Langtang national park, approximately 60km north of Kathmandu, near the Nepal-Tibet border.
The force of the event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake. However, the United States Geological Survey later determined the tremor was caused by glacial rock and ice collapsing, registering a magnitude of 5.2. This collapse unleashed a huge volume of water, mud, rock, and ice that surged down valleys and swept through the Lhende Khola, Bhote Koshi, and Trishuli rivers.
The high-speed flash floods impacted northern Nepalese towns, including areas frequented by mountaineering tourists and pilgrims. Rescue operations on Wednesday were hindered by damaged infrastructure and elevated river levels, preventing helicopters from landing in affected areas of Nepal's Rasuwa region.