Nepal-Tibet flash flood kills at least 270; over 1,400 missing, including hundreds of foreign tourists

A FLASH FLOOD in a Nepalese valley near the Chinese border unleashed waves of devastation that inundated villages and swept away buildings, killing at least 270 and leaving more than 1,400 missing, including hundreds of foreign tourists. 

Visitors from countries including India, Malaysia, Australia, the UK and US are unaccounted for more than 24 hours after the disaster, which washed away roads and bridges in Nepal’s mountainous Rasuwa district and prompted widespread evacuation alerts. 

Initial assessments based on seismic and satellite data indicate the flood was triggered by the collapse of a glacier in the Himalayan region between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday (Aug 26), causing a 5.2-magnitude seismic event that sent water, ice, rock and debris downstream. 

The flood wave was so intense it reached as high as 9 m in 30 minutes, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. 

“Nobody knows anything,” said Paribesh Chiluwal, a Kathmandu resident whose 28-year-old wife and 2-year-old son were missing after the disaster. His wife, who is eight months pregnant, worked at the local health post in Timure, Nepal’s Rasuwa district. He described the last several hours as “traumatic.”

Images and video capturing the catastrophe showed walls of water and rock smashing into villages in the heavily visited mountain valley. In one widely circulating video, a wall of debris overtook a border complex in Tibet at Gyirong Port, China’s main gateway to Nepal, washing away buildings and sending people fleeing for their lives. 

Nepalese authorities said on Thursday afternoon that 270 had died and 910 people were out of contact, including 517 foreign nationals. China’s state broadcaster CCTV said as of Thursday morning there were at least three deaths and 558 missing – including 260 foreigners – on the Chinese side of the border. 

‘All-out rescue’

The death count is widely expected to climb as rescue efforts get under way. For Nepal, the disaster may be the deadliest since the 2015 earthquake that flattened villages across the country and left nearly 9,000 dead. 

It also presents one of the biggest challenges yet to the Himalayan country’s new government led by Balendra Shah, a former rapper and Kathmandu mayor, who took over as prime minister in 2025 following a massive Gen-Z protest movement that toppled the previous leadership. 

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That movement was fuelled by widespread youth discontent over corruption and unemployment in a nation that is one of the region’s poorest. Nepal’s economy is highly dependent on foreign remittances and on tourism, which has been squeezed in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic. The disaster could add further strain.

Shah travelled to Bidur, a riverside town north of Kathmandu, on Thursday to inspect areas hit by the disaster and meet with those affected, Nepalese media reported. The disaster-hit area includes parks and trekking routes popular with tourists. 

In China, President Xi Jinping called for an all-out rescue effort in Tibet after what could become one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters in 2026. China’s Western Theatre Command Air Force has sent a guidance team to organise joint rescue operations in Gyirong county, according to Xinhua News Agency.

As dawn broke on Thursday, the scale of the devastation became more apparent, and reports of missing tourists from countries around the world began to trickle in. 

Rishabh Jain, who is from New Delhi, said his uncle and aunt remain unaccounted for after travelling to Nepal for a religious pilgrimage known as Kailash-Mansarovar. Jain said the family was told by their travel agency that the group’s handler was last contacted on Wednesday morning. Since then, the family has been “trying frantically” to obtain information. 

“Just a confirmation, official confirmation that they are alive, they are accounted for, is OK for us at this point,” Jain said, adding that hopes have gone up since spotting a woman resembling his aunt in rescue footage online. “Not all hope is lost.”  

Thirty Bengali tourists who were travelling on a pilgrimage were missing along with two guides, said Yashojit Basu, project manager at the Kolkata-based Chalo Jaai Travel Club.

The group is estimated to have reached an immigration office at around the same time the mudslide hit. Video footage showed people running for their lives ahead of a deluge that toppled structures and sent debris flying.

“No contact has been made yet,” Basu said by phone from Egypt, where he is running a different tour. A local team attempted a search-and-rescue operation several hours later, he said, but was unable to land a helicopter due to the extreme conditions.

“What they told us is, based on the devastation, the chance for survival is very thin,” Basu said.

As many as 80 bridges and 40 km of paved highway were damaged or swept away, Nepal’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said in a post on X. There are 89 security personnel missing, including members of the police and armed forces, it later added.

Malaysia’s foreign ministry said Thursday that 55 of its citizens were unaccounted for, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese put the number of Australians missing at 34.

The US State Department said it’s working closely with local authorities to assist Nepal and is providing US$500,000 in emergency funding. BLOOMBERG