TRISHULI, Nepal/BEIJING — A wall of mud and rock appeared to collapse into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and China’s Tibet on Wednesday, triggering catastrophic flooding on the Nepali side that killed at least 157 people and left hundreds of tourists missing.
In a still-unfolding disaster, verified videos showed dozens of people swept away at the border, with authorities on both sides fearing far higher casualties and massive destruction.
Houses, roads and power projects were swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” with some missing in the county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a border land crossing.
“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, a 68-year-old survivor, who was being treated at a small hospital.
“Four or five hours later, a helicopter came to rescue me. My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She’s gone.”
Another survivor described being saved by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.
Quake may have triggered collapse
Initial reports suggested that an earthquake in the area could have triggered an avalanche and caused the floods, Nepali Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Parliament on Wednesday, local media reported.
The office of Nepal’s prime minister said that 484 tourists were missing, of whom 391 were foreigners and 93 Nepalis.
Sunil Sharma, a tourism board spokesperson, said 133 were from India on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus. Also missing were 47 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada, he said. How many local people were also missing was not clear.
A State Department spokesperson said it “is aware of Americans impacted by the floods in Nepal and is closely tracking the situation.”
Canada was also closely following the situation, said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on X, calling the floods “absolutely devastating.”
The region lies on a popular route to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet, a site visited annually by hundreds of Hindu pilgrims from India and elsewhere, particularly at this time of year.
China’s state broadcaster said three people were killed and 265 others remain missing in Gyirong, the first casualty figures provided for the Chinese side of the border. It said the toll was still being verified and rescue efforts were ongoing.
South Korea separately said that eight of its nationals working on a hydropower plant were missing.
Fixed camera video shows people fleeing
Security video captured on the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border showed many people fleeing before a wall of rock, mud and water destroyed buildings and vehicles and took many lives.
The German Research Center for Geosciences said there was a 4.4-magnitude quake approximately seven minutes before the time shown on the security video timestamp.
Locals from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading were seen gathering outside a Nepali army training center — the base for helicopter rescue operations — seeking information about missing family members.
Police were recording the names of the missing just outside the barracks gate, using mobile phone flashlights as their only source of light as the area remained without electricity due to damaged hydropower infrastructure.
In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were seen submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day in the area bringing in survivors.
An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 12 miles northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on X.
Alton Byers, a faculty research scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at University Colorado Boulder, said permafrost is thawing in the alpine because of climate change, which destabilizes mountain slopes and makes dangerous landslides, icefalls and avalanches a growing risk to downstream communities.
As slopes crumble, rock and ice are pouring into steep river valleys, where they can block rivers or touch off massive debris flows.
“There’s an acceleration of landslides with warming trends,” Byers said. “Every single year, you’ve got landslides that block rivers and the rivers dam up.”
Rescue helicopters could not land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said, with the river flowing above its normal course.
Television images showed collapsed homes, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, while witnesses told Reuters the waters engulfed entire villages.
“There is devastation everywhere we look,” Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa, told Reuters. “The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”
Gyirong port affected
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region near the border.
The Chinese military has dispatched drones to conduct damage assessments, a statement said, adding it was organizing transport aircraft, helicopters and other equipment to be on standby for rescue operations.
A rescuer interviewed by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said they had been trying to establish contact with the Gyirong border port but “so far there haven’t been any results.” All roads leading to the border crossing had been “completely destroyed” after a preliminary inspection with a drone, the rescuer added.
President Xi Jinping urged “all-out” search efforts for the missing as well as stronger monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
With the deluge of muddy water sweeping down from an estimated nearly 6,560 feet above sea level, flood alerts were issued in the populous northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which border Nepal and where several rivers flow down the mountains into the plains.
Authorities in Bihar said they had evacuated about 5,000 people from six districts and planned to evacuate a total of 10,000 to 12,000 people.
Police and military were joining in the rescue effort, said Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
“Instructions have been given ... to move the people living in the lower areas to safer places,” he said. “People along the river are advised to exercise extra caution and remain alert.”
From its origins in Tibet, the Bhote Koshi River empties into Nepal’s Trishuli River, which eventually flows into India as the Gandak River.
Last year’s Bhote Koshi flood killed nine people, with 24 missing, as it washed away a “Friendship Bridge” linking Nepal and China to disrupt trade and transport for months.
That flood was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet, a regional climate monitor said.
