TRISHULI, Nepal/BEIJING: Rescue teams in Nepal were searching on Thursday for hundreds of people reported missing after a massive flow of mud, rock and water swept through communities along the Nepal–China border, killing at least 157 people and destroying homes, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure.
The disaster struck on Wednesday in the mountainous Rasuwa district of Nepal, near the Rasuwagadhi border crossing with China’s Tibet region. Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said an initial assessment based on satellite imagery indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 20 kilometres northeast of the border crossing.
The U.S. Geological Survey later clarified that what was initially reported as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake was not a conventional earthquake. The seismic energy recorded at the time was generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice and the subsequent movement of debris.
Nepal Police said 157 bodies had been recovered by late Wednesday, while hundreds remained unaccounted for. Nepalese tourism officials said more than 400 tourists were missing, including approximately 340 foreign nationals. The figures remained subject to verification as rescue teams struggled to reach isolated areas and restore communications.
The disaster also caused major destruction on the Chinese side of the border. China’s state broadcaster reported three deaths and 265 people missing in Gyirong County in Tibet, while warning that casualty figures were still being verified. The mudslide struck the Gyirong border port, damaging roads and cutting communications and electricity links.
The region is strategically and economically important because the Rasuwagadhi–Gyirong crossing connects Nepal with Tibet and is also used by travellers heading toward the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage area. Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar are among the most important sacred sites for Hindus, Buddhists and other religious communities.
Foreign governments were working to establish the whereabouts of their citizens. Nepal Tourism Board spokesperson Sunil Sharma said 47 missing tourists were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese separately confirmed that 34 Australians were missing. South Korea said eight of its nationals working at a hydropower project were unaccounted for, while Malaysia and Japan also reported missing citizens.
The United States State Department said it was aware of Americans affected by the floods and was closely monitoring the situation. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the disaster as “absolutely devastating” and said Canada was closely following developments.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said UN teams and partners were mobilising supplies and personnel to support communities affected by the disaster.
The physical destruction has severely complicated the rescue operation. In Rasuwa, helicopters faced difficulties landing in areas including Syapru Besi and Timure because rivers were running above their normal levels and access routes had been damaged. Roads, bridges and electricity infrastructure were destroyed or buried under mud, leaving some communities without power or reliable communications.
Witnesses described entire settlements close to the river being swept away. Television and verified video footage showed torrents of water, mud and debris carrying vehicles and destroying structures. At an army training centre being used as a base for helicopter rescue operations, relatives of missing people gathered seeking information, while police recorded names of those unaccounted for.
The disaster also created a downstream threat in India. Flood alerts were issued in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two populous states bordering Nepal. Authorities in Bihar said approximately 5,000 people had been evacuated from six districts and that plans were in place to evacuate between 10,000 and 12,000 people as the situation developed.
The scale of the destruction has raised fresh concerns about disaster preparedness in the Himalayan region, where steep terrain, glacial systems, unstable slopes and densely settled river valleys can combine to produce sudden and highly destructive events.
The immediate challenge is to reach isolated communities and locate survivors before deteriorating conditions further restrict access. The longer-term challenge is strengthening monitoring and early-warning systems for glacial and landslide hazards while improving the resilience of roads, bridges, hydropower projects and settlements exposed to Himalayan river systems.
The Nepal disaster demonstrates how a high-altitude geological event can rapidly become a cross-border humanitarian emergency, affecting Nepal, Tibet and downstream communities in India. With hundreds still missing, the priority remains the search for survivors and the evacuation of people trapped in some of the most difficult terrain in the Himalayas.
–Bimlesh Bajracharya and Yukun Chen
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