A catastrophic natural disaster has unfolded across the Nepal-Tibet border region, where powerful flash floods followed by destructive mudslides have left at least 98 people dead and hundreds more unaccounted for, including dozens of foreign tourists from dozens of nations around the globe.
The disaster struck early Wednesday morning in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, a popular trekking destination located just north of the capital city Kathmandu, where mudslides cascaded down slopes, burying residential homes and parked vehicles under tonnes of debris and sludge. Preliminary geological assessments point to a rare chain reaction: a minor earthquake triggered a large avalanche, which displaced massive volumes of glacial meltwater that surged into the Bhote Koshi river, overwhelming its banks and unleashing the destructive flood downstream.
Stark visual evidence captured by local closed-circuit cameras shows a towering wall of muddy water crashing into low-lying buildings near the border crossing point, while on-board footage from a passenger bus traveling through the Trishuli valley recorded chaotic scenes of dozens of tourists and local residents scrambling to escape the fast-rising flood surge advancing through the valley.
According to official confirmation from Nepal’s Tourism Board, 403 people are currently listed as missing in the Nepalese side of the disaster zone. Of those unaccounted for, 61 are local Nepali citizens and 341 are foreign nationals hailing from 26 different countries. Thirty-three of the missing are citizens of the United Kingdom, one of the largest national groups of foreign tourists missing after the event.
Further details released by local adventure tour operator Alpine Eco Trek, which organizes guided trekking expeditions in the region, show that 12 of its British clients on a cross-border excursion, alongside two Irish nationals, are among those missing. Company manager Kumar Adhikari told the Press Association that little concrete information has been able to be gathered so far, noting that the group was scheduled to re-enter Nepalese territory on Wednesday morning. Travel logs shared with the outlet show the missing British group members range in age from 13 to 65 years old.
On the Tibetan side of the border, Chinese state media outlet CCTV confirmed that a separate mudslide in Gyirong has killed three people and left another 265 people missing, with large-scale search and rescue operations already launched in both affected regions.
The UK Foreign Office has confirmed it is coordinating closely with Nepalese government authorities to locate missing British citizens. In a joint advisory released alongside the Australian government, the European Union, Finland, France, Norway and Switzerland, the UK Embassy in Nepal has urged all British citizens currently staying in Nepal to avoid the affected areas and exercise extreme caution amid the ongoing emergency. Officials have also encouraged UK nationals in the country to follow official guidance from local authorities and stay alert to rapidly changing conditions in disaster-hit regions.