Rescuers search for survivors after devastating Nepal floods leave over 160 dead

Rescuers search for survivors after devastating Nepal floods leave over 160 dead.

Key points

• Almost 1, 500 residents, including more than 700 foreigners, are missing throughout Nepal and China's Tibet, authorities remarked on Thursday.
• Almost 1, 500 residents, including more than 700 foreigners, missing throughout Nepal and China's Tibet, say authorities.
• 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 500 foreigners were among 826 individuals missing in Nepal, police and tourism office-holders noted.

Almost 1, 500 residents, including more than 700 foreigners, missing throughout Nepal and China's Tibet, say authorities. Published August 27, 2026. Nepal flash flood kills scores, toll set to rise. Hundreds of foreign travellers missing after disaster. Helicopters drop aid, search for survivors.

TRISHULI, BEIJING: Rescuers in Nepal applied helicopters on Thursday to scour for hundreds still missing after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border with China's Tibet, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys, killing 162.

"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.

Almost 500 foreigners were among 826 individuals missing in Nepal, police and tourism office-holders noted. 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.

Malaysia's foreign ministry remarked 55 nationals were uncontactable but there was no official confirmation of casualties.

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

After the disaster swept a region thronged by trekkers and pilgrims, while police noted they anticipated the death toll to rise beyond 162, more than 400 foreigners were among 579 tourists missing, Nepal tourism authorities stated.

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 massive gush of mud coming straight towards us, stated 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."

In practice, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

China's state broadcaster tallied three deaths and 265 missing in Gyirong, but continued the toll was still being verified against the backdrop of the rescue effort. Thirty-four Australians were among the missing, remarked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

"Nepal. Is a developing country, " he remarked. "It doesn't have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult."

South Korea remarked eight nationals working on a hydropower plant were missing, with Malaysia and Japan additionally reporting some missing nationals. 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 and killed numerous.

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.

Police at the gates took down the names of the missing using flashlights on mobile telephones left as the only source of light after power was cut off by damage to hydropower plants.

In the affected areas, layers of mud 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.

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."

China's official Xinhua news agency remarked the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications and power links in the border region of Shigatse.

Meanwhile, a rescuer informed state broadcaster CCTV of fruitless attempts to produce contact with the Gyirong border port, saying, "So far there haven't been any results."

Meanwhile, a drone inspection indicated all roads to the border crossing were "completely destroyed", the rescuer went on in an interview. Create us preferred on Google.

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