Flooding in Nepal kills 19 people
Nineteen people have died in Nepal's border region, and 384 tourists are missing. Rescue services continue their search.
Flash flooding in Nepal has killed 19 people, leaving 384 tourists, including 291 foreigners and 93 Nepalese citizens, missing. Local authorities reported the incident on August 26, specifying that it occurred in an area bordering Tibet.
The Nepal Tourism Board received information about the missing from tour and transport companies. Authorities continue to verify the whereabouts of the victims and are coordinating search and rescue operations.
Nepal Police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle confirmed the recovery of the bodies of 19 victims. He noted that relevant agencies have been deployed to rescue and humanitarian operations, although many police officers remain unresponsive.
Videos of powerful streams of dirty water rushing through mountain valleys in the area bordering China have circulated on social media. Eyewitness Suman Chalise told AFP that he saw trucks, houses, and people swept away by the flood.
The extent of the damage has not yet been determined. Residents of riverine areas have been advised to leave the affected areas. The Nepalese army has dispatched helicopters and disaster relief units to the affected areas.
The flooding also caused damage to Nepal's power infrastructure. According to the country's Electricity Authority, facilities associated with approximately 430 MW of generating capacity, including hydroelectric power plants and solar facilities, were damaged. Damage to production, transmission, and distribution systems led to power outages.
Sarthak Shrestha, a specialist at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), suggested that no abnormal phenomena were observed on the Chinese side of the border. He estimated that a rockfall and ice avalanche in Nepal, which blocked the Lhende River and caused cascading flooding, could have been the cause.
Due to the natural disaster, authorities closed several roads. Chinese state television CCTV reported that a landslide on the Nepalese side of the border resulted in numerous casualties and missing people near the Gyirong border crossing in Tibet.
China's Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a large-scale rescue operation. He called for all efforts to search for the missing, provide assistance to the injured, and reduce the number of casualties.
Authorities in the Tibetan city of Shigatse also warned of the threat of further landslides and urged attention to the unsafe road conditions.
Floods and landslides regularly occur in South Asia during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September each year. Last July, 17 people went missing after a landslide near the Gyirong border crossing.