Nuwakot District, Nepal(National Times)- Devastating floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least 359 people, Nepali police said in an update on Thursday, a day after the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs of 5pm [on] Thursday, 359 people have died,\u201d Nepal Police said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese state media had earlier reported \u201cmajor casualties\u201d from a mudslide at a Tibet border hub with three dead, taking the total killed to at least 362.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A terrifying clip of surveillance video from the Chinese side of the frontier shows a massive wall of mud and debris crashing over a building several stories high on Wednesday morning, engulfing it as dozens of people ran for their lives below. The surge swept away buses and cars like they were toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the missing are foreign tourists, officials said of the disaster, which the US Geological Survey believes was caused by a glacial collapse that sent a flow of debris engulfing areas along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tsunami-like rumble of water and mud struck villages and towns on the path of two rivers \u2014 Bhote Koshi and Trishuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Nepal\u2019s death toll stood at 273, 823 people, including 579 Nepali and foreign tourists, remained out of contact, according to the country\u2019s disaster agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These included nearly 100 Chinese nationals, according to Beijing\u2019s foreign ministry. The Chinese embassy was \u201cseeking further verification\u201d from Nepali authorities, ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, about 100 missing Indian visitors and 25 Chinese workers were located by rescuers in Nepal, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across the border, Chinese state media said 558 people, including 260 foreigners, were still missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nepal\u2019s Prime Minister Balendra Shah left by road for Bidur in one of the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot to assess the flood situation, his office said on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raju Bhadel, 56, a businessman in Nuwakot, recounted receiving a call from his brother-in-law in distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were crying and said their entire house had been swept away. Three family members were rescued, but his brother is still missing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also at Nuwakot, teacher Manok Mishra witnessed \u201cnine trucks being swept away by the floods, including people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This frame grab taken from video released by the Armed Police Force of Nepal on August 26, 2026 shows rescue workers carrying a person after massive floods and landslides in Rasuwa. \u2014AFP
\u2018Inland tsunami\u2019
Rescuers waded through mud and sludge to look for survivors after floodwaters buried the lower floors of multi-storey buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those hunting for their missing family members was Subash Khatani, who told AFP he was looking for his big brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe is among the missing from Rasuwa. That\u2019s why we are out to search for him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 were from India, 63 were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others included tourists from Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and South Korea, Nepal\u2019s tourism board said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hiking company Himalayan Glacier told AFP that 47 people from a group, including two children, were missing in Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur teams are checking hospitals where victims are coming in,\u201d said the company\u2019s director Sanket Pandey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sudden rush of mud and debris was \u201clike an inland tsunami, travelling nearly 170 kilometres down the Bhote Koshi valley into Central Nepal\u201d, said environmental historian Ruth Gamble of La Trobe University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is a popular route for international tourists travelling from Kathmandu to Lhasa,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,\u201d said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in a Nepali hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife\u2019s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. \u201cMy wife is still somewhere beneath the mud,\u201d he added. \u201cShe\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another survivor said he saved himself by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rasuwa, in the north of Nepal, was the first district to be affected. But deaths have been reported from seven Nepali districts in total as the floodwaters raged through to Chitwan in the south, on the border with India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is devastation everywhere we look,\u201d said Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Nepali Army was carrying out flights and had rescued scores of people, while others living near the river in danger zones had been told to relocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China\u2019s leader Xi Jinping said that \u201cthe most urgent task is doing everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people\u201d, according to CCTV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tibet government officials mobilised nearly 800 emergency workers and 150 vehicles as well as sniffer dogs and speed boats to help the rescue efforts, China\u2019s state-run news agency Xinhua said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it was dispatching emergency supplies including blankets, first aid kits, stretchers and body bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEntire villages and market areas have been wiped out,\u201d said David Fisher, the Nepal head of IFRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US State Department said it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said details on the disaster were scant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNepal \u2026 is a developing country,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to support affected Nepali communities, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Glacial collapse
The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear in the hours after it occurred early on Wednesday, but the US Geological Survey said it was a glacial collapse that caused seismic activity and the \u201ccatastrophic\u201d downstream impacts in Nepal and Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdditional analysis of nearby seismic stations, long-period seismic waves, and satellite imagery led to the determination that the seismic event was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risks of glacial lake floods and glacial collapses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents look at a street submerged by mud following flash floods and a landslide disaster in Devighat, in Nepal\u2019s Nuwakot district on August 26, 2026. \u2014AFP
Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), warned of the potential for a second flood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many trekking companies were not running tours during the monsoon season, but there remain significant numbers of travellers, including pilgrims, in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experts cautioned that a lingering blockage in a river could produce an additional flood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among sites hit by the flood was Syabrubesi, the gateway to the popular trekking areas, as well as by pilgrims travelling to the base of Mount Kailash, a holy site for Buddhists and Hindus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traffic authorities in Tibet\u2019s Shigatse said roads in the area were \u201cat risk of mudslides and unsafe for passage\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said that he was praying for all those killed in devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI pray for all those who have lost their lives, and offer my sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved and to all those affected by this tragedy,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nuwakot District, Nepal(National Times)- Devastating floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least 359 people, Nepali police said in an update on Thursday, a day after the disaster. \u201cAs of 5pm [on] Thursday, 359 people have died,\u201d Nepal Police said in a statement. Chinese state media had earlier reported \u201cmajor casualties\u201d from a mudslide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n