Nepal flood death toll reaches 162 as rescuers search for hundreds missing

TRISHULI: Rescue teams in Nepal launched an extensive search on Thursday for hundreds of people still missing after a massive landslide triggered devastating floods along the Himalayan border with China’s Tibet region, leaving at least 162 people dead.

Helicopters were deployed to survey remote areas where torrents of mud, rocks and water swept through towns and valleys, destroying homes, roads and infrastructure.

Nepal tourism officials said 579 tourists remained unaccounted for, including more than 400 foreign nationals. Police warned that the death toll was likely to increase as rescue teams continued recovering bodies from areas buried under debris.

“We expect the number to rise as the search has resumed and more bodies are likely to be recovered,” police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told Reuters.

According to Nepal Tourism Board spokesperson Sunil Sharma, those reported missing include 47 US nationals, 34 Australians, 33 Britons and 24 Canadians, the Associated Press reported.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that 558 people were missing in the mudslide-hit Gyirong county in Tibet, including 260 foreign nationals. It was not immediately clear whether the Chinese and Nepalese figures included the same people.

Verified footage showed powerful waves of water and debris surging through a border crossing in Gyirong, sweeping away people and causing widespread destruction. The flooding also damaged homes, roads and power infrastructure further downstream in Nepal.

Keshav Prasad Baral, 68, who survived the disaster and was being treated in hospital, described the moment the flood reached his home.

“A huge wave of mud came towards us,” he said.

As the debris approached, Baral said he tried to take his wife to the terrace, but she was swept away after the mud entered their home.

A helicopter rescued Baral about four hours later, but his wife remained missing beneath the debris.

“She is still somewhere under the mud,” he said.

Another survivor said he escaped by clinging to a mango tree while watching the house where he had been working being engulfed by the flood.

Emergency deliveries begin

In the hardest-hit districts, helicopters are dropping tents, food and other emergency supplies provided by neighbouring India said Raja Ram Basnet, a spokesperson for Nepal’s army.

Early reports from Nepali officials suggested an earthquake in the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods.

The U.S. Geological Survey said an earthquake with magnitude initially reported as 4.4 was in fact seismic energy generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice, followed by debris flow.

Many of the victims were making a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists among others.

Mount Kailash, which Hindus believe to be the abode of Lord Shiva, lies on the banks of Lake Mansarovar, also held sacred in various religions.

The U.S. State Department said it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500,000.

Canada was also closely following the situation, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X, describing the floods as “absolutely devastating”.

U.N. teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to support affected Nepali communities, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

China’s state broadcaster tallied three deaths and 265 missing in Gyirong, but added the toll was still being verified amid the rescue effort.

Thirty-four Australians were among the missing, said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“Nepal … is a developing country,” he said. “It doesn’t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult.”

South Korea said eight nationals working on a hydropower plant were missing, with Malaysia and Japan also reporting some missing nationals.

Videos show people swept away while fleeing

Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the border showed many people fleeing from a torrent of rock, mud and water destroyed buildings and vehicles that killed many.

People seeking information about family members missing from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading gathered outside a Nepali army training centre that was the base for helicopter rescue operations, the images showed.

Police at the gates took down the names of the missing using flashlights on mobile telephones left as the only source of light after power was cut off by damage to hydropower plants.

In the affected areas, layers of mud swathed homes, trees and vehicles. Helicopters ferrying survivors hovered overhead all day.

An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery showed a landslide of ice and rock unleashed a flood carrying debris in the Lhende River, about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal disaster management officials said on X.

Television images showed collapsed homes, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, while witnesses said the waters engulfed entire villages.

“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 said the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications and power links in the border region of Shigatse.

A rescuer told state broadcaster CCTV of fruitless attempts to make contact with the Gyirong border port, saying, “So far there haven’t been any results.”

A drone inspection showed all roads to the border crossing were “completely destroyed”, the rescuer added in an interview.