Flash floods and landslides along the Nepal-China border have killed at least 165 people, with nearly 1,400 individuals missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals, according to authorities in Nepal and Tibet.
The disaster struck on Wednesday when a glacial collapse triggered a surge of mud and rock through the Himalayan corridor connecting Kathmandu and Lhasa, devastating villages along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers. Over 5,000 army and police personnel have been deployed for rescue operations.
Among the missing are 800 foreign nationals, including 177 Indians, 63 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons, and 25 Canadians, as well as 53 Ukrainians. Rescue efforts involve helicopters, earthmovers, and supply drops to isolated communities.
The US Geological Survey initially classified the event as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake but later attributed it to seismic energy from a glacial rock and ice collapse. Climate scientists link the surge to an ice-rock avalanche that dammed and then released the Lhende Khola river, a pattern seen in a similar 2023 flood.