Nearly 1500 people are missing, the majority of whom are tourists, authorities have said, after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and China’s Tibet, roaring down valleys and wiping out entire villages, with the preliminary death toll standing at 165.
Rescuers are racing to locate people missing in the mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims, including the hundreds of nationals from India, the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Terrifying videos from the event on Wednesday showed a massive wall of water crashing down on the border as people attempted to flee. Trucks were upended and houses, roads and power projects swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” after a mudslide hit a border land crossing.
In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day in the area bringing in survivors.
Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials said. Among those unaccounted were 177 from India, 63 from the US, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.
Chinese state media said at least 558 were missing on the Tibet side of the border, of whom at least 260 were foreign nationals.
Police in Nepal said 165 bodies had been recovered by late on Wednesday. Chinese state media reported three dead on the Tibet side of the border.
Many of the victims were on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet that is revered by Hindus and Buddhists among others.
Early reports from Nepali officials initially suggested an earthquake in the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods. But the US Geological Survey later said what was initially reported as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was a seismic shock generated by glacial rock and ice collapsing and the flow of debris. “No earthquake had occurred.”
Source: Al-Ahed English News
