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At least 177 people have been killed and hundreds more are missing after a flash flood and mudslide along the Nepal-Tibet border washed away villages and damaged roads and infrastructure.
The flood hit early on Wednesday in Rasuwa, just north of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, with the US Geological Survey confirming that it was caused by a glacial collapse and debris flow.
Search operations are under way on both sides of the border and the death toll is expected to rise significantly in the coming days.
State media in China, which controls Tibet, say there are significant casualties and Nepalese officials said they anticipate “huge scale loss”.
Nepal police said on Thursday that 177 bodies had been recovered from flood-affected areas. However, the exact number of people killed or missing is feared to be much higher.
Nepal said that 826 people were missing, with 644 tourists out of contact, a spokesperson for the Nepal Tourism Board, Sunil Sharma, told the BBC.
Among those missing include 178 Indian tourists, 127 Nepali tourists, 65 Americans, 53 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 35 Australians, and 33 UK nationals, Sharma said.
Deputy Superintendent of Nepal Tourist Police Bisworaj Adhikari told the BBC that they are still collecting information from tour operators about the tourists who had travelled to the area.
The number of people missing in Tibet’s Gyirong county has risen to 558, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday.
Among these are 260 foreign nationals, the state broadcaster said, adding the death toll remained at three.
It is not clear if any of the missing in the Nepali and Chinese figures have been counted twice.
Alpine Eco Trek, which offers guided tours and expeditions in Nepal, confirmed that 12 British nationals, two Irish nationals and four South Africans on its tour across the Nepal-Tibet border were missing.
Another company, Kailash Journeys, told the BBC that 27 guests, including seven British citizens, were among the missing.
The ages of the missing British citizens range from 13 to 65, according to travel logs shared with PA news agency.
The US Geological Survey had first reported the event as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake on Wednesday, but said on Thursday that analysis had confirmed that “no earthquake had occurred”.
It said the disaster “was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow” that “caused subsequent catastrophic impacts downstream”.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) warned of a secondary potential flooding event, as a result of the debris that washed into the river systems.
Several areas downstream of the Bhote Koshi river, which flows from Tibet to Nepal, are on high alert and roads, communications and power in the region have been disrupted. The authorities say the main road to Kathmandu is closed.
Verified videos from Nepal show a bridge being swept away and multi-storey buildings collapsed by the force of floodwaters, as well as a town with many buildings destroyed.
BBC Verify has located the clips to the town of Trishuli Bazaar area of Nuwakot District in Bagmati Province, about 25km (16 miles) to the north-west of Kathmandu.
The video shows the river Trishuli suddenly becoming swollen by enormous amounts of water, which appears to have significantly increased in volume and speed and filled with sediment.
About 40 seconds into the clip, the weight of the flash flood rips the bridge off of its supports and carries it swiftly downriver. A few seconds later, several buildings also collapse. Source BBC.
