Rescue crews pressed on with searches on Thursday for scores of people still unaccounted for after a vast wall of mud and rock plunged into a river on the Himalaya frontier between Nepal and China’s Tibet a day earlier, producing catastrophic flooding that swept through mountain settlements and valleys.
Officials at Nepal’s tourism ministry said roughly 340 foreigners were among more than 400 tourists reported missing after the calamity struck a mountainous region frequented by trekkers and religious pilgrims. Nepal police reported that 157 bodies had been recovered by late Wednesday, but authorities in both Nepal and China said verified video footage and eyewitness accounts suggested the human toll and damage could be considerably greater.
Televised and online video from the border area showed overwhelming torrents of water and debris roaring down slopes and carrying away dozens of people, vehicles and buildings. In Nepal, houses, roads and hydropower projects were swept away or buried by the flows, while in Tibet officials warned of "major casualties" after a mudslide struck a border land crossing in Gyirong county.
Survivors recounted harrowing escapes amid the surge. "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, 68, who was being treated at a small hospital. He added that a helicopter rescued him several hours later and that his wife remained buried beneath the mud.
Another person described clinging to a mango tree to avoid being carried off as the house where he had been working collapsed and vanished in the flood.
Initial statements from Nepali officials suggested that an earthquake in the area may have played a role in causing the lower part of a glacier to give way and trigger the floods. The U.S. Geological Survey later clarified that a seismic reading initially reported as a 4.4 magnitude event actually represented seismic energy created by the collapse of glacial rock and ice and the downstream flow of debris.
Many of those affected were on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude religious site in Tibet revered by Hindus, Buddhists and other faiths. Mount Kailash and nearby Lake Mansarovar are treated as sacred by multiple communities, and large groups of pilgrims travel to the area each season.
Sunil Sharma, a Nepal tourism board spokesperson, provided nationality breakdowns for missing tourists. He said 47 of the missing were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada. A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed Washington’s awareness of Americans affected by the floods and said the situation was being closely monitored. Canada was also following developments closely, and a message on X from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the floods as "absolutely devastating." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said United Nations teams and partners were mobilising supplies and personnel in Nepal to assist communities hit by the disaster.
On the Chinese side, state broadcaster reports put the toll in Gyirong at three dead and 265 missing, while cautioning that figures were still being verified and rescue efforts continued. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said 34 Australians were reported missing, noting the difficulty of obtaining information in a country with limited resources to respond to such an event.
Other nations reported nationals unaccounted for. South Korea said eight of its citizens who had been working at a hydropower plant were missing. Malaysia and Japan also reported missing nationals.
Security footage from the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border captured crowds attempting to flee before a destructive mix of rock, mud and water demolished buildings and vehicles and claimed numerous lives. In Nepal, residents from affected districts such as Nuwakot and Dhading gathered outside a Nepali army training centre that was serving as a base for helicopter rescue operations to seek news of missing relatives. Police near the barracks gate were recording names of the missing using mobile phone flashlights after electrical infrastructure had been damaged.
Across the impacted zones, houses, trees and cars lay submerged or buried under debris. Helicopters maintained continuous flights to move survivors and deliver assistance where they could. An initial analysis of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated that a landslide composed of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, located about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Rescue aircraft were unable to land in Nepal’s worst-hit settlements of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous Rasuwa district, which has an estimated population of about 50,000, officials said. The Lhende River was reported flowing above its normal course. Television footage showed homes reduced to rubble, cars floating in muddy water, and a metal bridge being swept away. Witnesses described entire villages being engulfed by the surge.
"There is devastation everywhere we look," said Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa. "The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing."
China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that the mudslide struck the Gyirong port and severed roads, communications and power connections in the Shigatse region near the border. A rescuer interviewed by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said teams had been trying to establish contact with the Gyirong border port but had so far found no results. Officials conducting a preliminary drone inspection reported that roads leading to the border crossing had been "completely destroyed."
With the muddy deluge descending from an estimated nearly 2,000 metres above sea level, authorities issued flood alerts in the populous Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which lie downstream of several rivers that flow out of the mountains. Bihar officials said they had evacuated about 5,000 people from six districts and planned further evacuations to reach a total of 10,000 to 12,000 people.
Recovery and rescue operations are ongoing under difficult conditions, as access to many affected areas remains cut off by destroyed roads and damaged power and communications networks. Helicopters and ground teams continue to search for survivors, record the names of the missing and support evacuated communities, while governments and international organisations mobilise aid and personnel to assist those impacted.