KABUL (Pajhwok): At least 160 people have been killed and hundreds remain missing after a massive flash flood swept through villages in Nepal’s mountainous Rasuwa district, near the Tibet border, damaging roads, bridges and power projects, officials said.
Nepali police said late Wednesday that they had recovered 157 bodies, while rescue teams continued efforts to evacuate people from high-risk areas, Al Jazeera reported.
Nepal’s Tourism Ministry said about 403 tourists, including 341 foreigners, remained unaccounted for following the disaster. The missing foreign nationals included 142 Indians, as well as citizens of Australia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea and the United States.
Police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said 28 police personnel were also missing.
Across the border in Tibet, Chinese authorities reported at least three deaths and said 265 people remained missing in Gyirong County. State broadcaster CCTV said the exact casualty figures were still being verified.
Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah called for national unity in the wake of the disaster.
“Please be patient. The government takes full responsibility for your rescue, treatment, food and shelter. In times of such a disaster, we all need to stand together,” Shah said in a statement shared on social media.
Officials said floodwaters were too high for helicopters to land in the affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in Rasuwa district, which has a population of about 50,000.
District administrator Narendra Pariyar urged people living along the Bhote Koshi River to move to higher ground, citing reports that nearby villages and infrastructure project sites had been swept away.
“We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts,” Nepali government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel said.
Meanwhile, China reported “major casualties” and missing people in Gyirong County after a mudslide struck a major land crossing between China and Nepal.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting roads and disrupting communications and power supplies in the Shigatse region.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an “all-out” effort to search for missing people and called for stronger monitoring and early-warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
Prayash Adhikari, a climate justice activist in Nepal, described the flooding as devastating and said entire villages had been wiped out.
“Hundreds of people are missing,” Adhikari told Al Jazeera from Kathmandu, adding that buildings, schools, bridges and highways had been destroyed.
In neighbouring India, authorities in Bihar state began evacuating residents from six districts amid fears that the floodwaters could reach the area.
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