Nepal flash flood kills at least 95, leaves nearly 400 missing — including foreign tourists

UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Massive flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China on Wednesday killed at least 160 people and left hundreds of tourists, workers and others missing after sweeping through communities and bringing travel in some areas to a halt. Experts said an avalanche from a glacier was the likely cause in the warming Himalaya region.Police in Nepal reported at least 157 dead. China’s state broadcaster CCTV said a mudslide in the Tibet region’s Gyirong County near the border killed at least three and left 265 missing.

Drone footage showed roads destroyed and buildings buried. State news agency Xinhua reported significant casualties.Nepal’s steep valleys are economic lifelines and travel corridors but precarious ones when disaster strikes. Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by.

Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and stunned survivors were caked in mud.Many missing were on pilgrimage to a sacred siteOfficials in Nepal said 403 people, including 341 foreign nationals, were reported missing. Sunil Sharma, a tourism board spokesperson, said 133 were from India on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus. Also missing were 47 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada, he said.

The State Department said it was aware of Americans affected.At least 62 missing Nepali citizens were among hundreds of locals trekking in the Gosaikunda Lake area in Rasuwa, coinciding with the local festival of Janai Purnima on Friday, Sharma added. Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press at least 28 police officials were missing.Officials warned residents in several districts to stay away from the banks of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers. The Bhotekoshi flooded around 9 a.m.

Wednesday, destroying several villages and hydropower projects, officials said. At least 19 bridges were swept away.“We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts,” said government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel.The U.S. Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 66 kilometers (41 miles) north of Kathmandu, near the border.

The USGS later updated to call it a 5.2 magnitude landslide.Though the current monsoon sea… The death toll in Nepal’s devastating flash floods has risen to 95, while 384 people remain missing, including 105 Indian nationals. The disaster struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district near the Tibet border after a sudden surge in the Bhotekoshi River, causing widespread destruction and triggering one of the country’s worst flood emergencies in recent years.