Deadly Nepal flood leaves hundreds missing as India on alert

On Wednesday, catastrophic flash floods struck the border region between Nepal and Tibet, claiming at least 165 lives and leaving nearly 1,400 people missing. The flood resulted from a glacial collapse that sent a massive wall of mud and rock cascading through the Himalayan communities, entirely erasing several villages. Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 826 people missing, with nearly 600 of them being foreign nationals.

In Tibet, Chinese broadcaster CCTV announced 558 people missing in Gyirong county, including 260 foreigners.

The disaster hit on Wednesday when the Lhende Khola river, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, was overwhelmed by a flood triggered by a glacial collapse in a popular trekking and pilgrimage corridor connecting Kathmandu with Lhasa. Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle confirmed to Reuters that the death toll was expected to rise as search efforts resumed, with more bodies anticipated to be recovered.

Among those still missing in Nepal were significant numbers of foreign tourists. Sunil Sharma, a spokesperson for Nepal's tourism board, informed the Associated Press that 133 of the missing were Indian pilgrims en route to Mount Kailash, a revered Hindu site. The list of missing tourists included 47 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons, and 24 Canadians. Reuters reported a slightly different breakdown, with 177 tourists missing from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain, and 25 from Canada.