Nearly 1,500 missing in Nepal and China after devastating Himalaya flood

Almost 1, 500 missing in Nepal and China after devastating Himalaya flood.

Key points

• The tally of missing in Tibet's Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV remarked on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals.
• The US State Department remarked it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500, 000.
• Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 individuals missing in Nepal, police and tourism office-holders noted.
• Mount Kailash, which Hindus believe to be the abode of Lord Shiva, lies on the banks of Lake Mansarovar, additionally held sacred in various religions.
• Sagar Pandey, the chief executive of a Himalayan tourism operator, remarked 15 Indian-Australians on a pilgrimage tour with the business were missing.

Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 individuals missing in Nepal, police and tourism office-holders noted. Published August 27, 2026 Updated August 27, 2026 11: 07am. Add BRecorder as a trusted source on Google.

After a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys, NEPAL/BEIJING: Almost 1, 500 residents including at least 800 foreigners are missing throughout Nepal and China's Tibet, authorities remarked on Thursday.

Rescuers in Nepal applied helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off after Wednesday's disaster swept a rugged mountainous region thronged by trekkers and pilgrims linking Lhasa in Tibet with the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. Police remarked they anticipated the death toll to rise beyond 165.

"This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered, " police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle informed Reuters.

Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 were from India, 63 were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

In practice, the tally of missing in Tibet's Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV remarked on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals.

Verified videos indicated crushing masses of water and debris sweeping away dozens of residents at a border crossing in Gyirong, with homes, roads and power projects washed away further downstream in Nepal.

It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us, remarked Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in hospital. As it obtained closer, it kept rising higher and higher.

When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife's hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud. A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours afterwards.

"My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud, " he continued. "She's gone." Another survivor remarked he saved himself by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear. Hundreds missing after devastating flood hits Nepal-Tibet border, 95 bodies recovered.

In the hardest-hit districts, helicopters are dropping tents, food and other emergency supplies provided by neighbouring India, remarked Raja Ram Basnet, a spokesperson for Nepal's army.

More than 5, 000 army and police rescue personnel were mobilised to look for survivors and find bodies.

Early reports from Nepali authorities suggested an earthquake in the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods.

Notably, the US Geological Survey remarked an earthquake with magnitude initially noted as 4.4 was in fact seismic energy generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice, followed by debris flow.

Chinese authorities have identified risks from a still-dammed lake located in Gyirong, upstream from the mudslide and flood-stricken Tibet-Nepal border crossing that could significantly complicate rescue efforts in the mountainous site, CCTV documented on Thursday.

Plenty of of the victims were making a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists among others.

For context, the US State Department remarked it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500, 000. Canada was additionally closely after the situation, Prime Minister Mark Carney noted on X, describing the floods as "absolutely devastating".

UN teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to backing affected Nepali communities, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remarked details on the disaster were scant. "Nepal. Is a developing country, " he remarked. Heavy rain dampens search for dozens missing in Afghanistan flood.

"It doesn't have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult."

"There are no human-made things, no human settlement left. Everything is just flat, " he informed Reuters after flying over the zone in a helicopter.

"So anyone in the hotel, the restaurant, or the car, I believe that everybody is gone." Videos show individuals swept away while fleeing.

Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the border indicated numerous individuals fleeing from a torrent of rock, mud and water that destroyed buildings and vehicles.

Individuals seeking information concerning family members missing from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading gathered outside a Nepali army training centre that was the base for helicopter rescue operations, the images indicated.

In the affected areas, layers of mud metres thick swathed homes, trees and vehicles. Helicopters ferrying survivors hovered overhead all day.

In practice, an initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated a landslide of ice and rock unleashed a flood carrying debris in the Lhende River, concerning 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal disaster management authorities remarked on X. Floods in India's northeast kill almost 100.

While witnesses stated the waters engulfed entire villages, television images indicated collapsed homes, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away.

"There is devastation everywhere we look, " remarked Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa.

The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing. Storms, floods kill 188 in Pakistan, Afghanistan over two weeks.

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For now, nearly 1, 500 missing in Nepal and China after devastating Himalaya flood remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.