Himalayan Flood Death Toll Climbs to 750 in Nepal and Tibet — More Than 3,000 Are Still Missing
KATHMANDU, Nepal — The death toll from the catastrophic Himalayan flood that tore through the Nepal-China border region last week climbed to 750 on Sunday, with more than 3,000 people still unaccounted for, authorities in both countries said, as rising river levels forced rescue crews to pull back to higher ground.
Nepali officials reported 734 dead, 2,498 missing and 7,514 people rescued. On the Chinese side, authorities in Tibet’s Gyirong County said 16 people had died as of Saturday evening and 546 remained missing. Together the figures make the disaster one of the deadliest mountain floods on record in the region.
The flood began Wednesday when part of a glacier collapsed high in the Langtang Himal range, more than 5,000 meters above sea level, below the 7,234-meter peak of Langtang Lirung. The collapse triggered a landslide and sent a wall of water, ice, mud and rock racing more than 170 kilometers down the Bhote Koshi River valley, flattening riverside villages within minutes.
Settlements in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, including Timure and Syapru Besi, were among the hardest hit. Floodwaters pushed farther downstream into parts of Nuwakot and Dhading districts. The Red Cross estimates that more than 90,000 people have been affected by the disaster.
Foreign nationals are among the missing. Chinese authorities said 261 foreigners from 23 countries were unaccounted for on the Tibetan side, including 104 Nepalis, 49 Indians, 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 Britons.
Rescue work has been interrupted repeatedly since Friday. A lake that formed behind a mudslide dam near the Gyirong border crossing began overflowing, prompting Nepali officials to halt operations and Chinese teams to withdraw a kilometer from the site. Crews resumed after the river rose only about two feet and the threat was judged manageable, but bad weather has forced additional pauses.
Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey and other institutions have linked the glacier collapse to thawing permafrost, and Chinese officials have publicly tied the disaster to climate change. Researchers have warned for years that the Himalayas are warming faster than the global average, raising the risk of glacial outbursts on this scale.
