Kathmandu, August 26, 2026: At least 19 people were killed and hundreds of tourists remained unaccounted for on Wednesday after a massive torrent of mud, debris and floodwater swept through areas near Nepal’s border with Tibet, burying buildings, damaging infrastructure and triggering a large-scale search-and-rescue operation.
Nepalese authorities said 384 tourists, including 291 foreigners, could not be contacted more than eight hours after the disaster struck. The Nepal Tourism Board said Americans, Indians, an Australian, Malaysians and Britons were among those reported missing.
The disaster occurred after a torrent of mud and debris surged from a river near the China-Nepal border, sweeping away homes and other structures and leaving a trail of destruction.
Police said the death toll had risen to at least 19, while rescue teams continued searching for survivors in affected areas.
“I got a call from my brother-in-law this morning, and they were crying and said their entire house had been swept away,” 56-year-old Raju Bhadel told AFP. “Three family members were rescued, but his brother is still missing.”
Images released by Nepalese police showed powerful floodwaters rushing through a river and carrying away houses, while photographs from the affected area showed buildings partially buried under thick layers of mud.
Authorities warned residents living near rivers to move to safer locations as the full extent of the damage remained unclear.
The Nepal Army deployed helicopters and disaster-response personnel to assist with rescue and relief operations in the affected areas.
The flooding also caused extensive damage to Nepal’s energy infrastructure, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority.
About 430 megawatts of electricity-generation capacity, including hydropower and solar facilities, was damaged, the authority said. Production, transmission and distribution infrastructure was affected, resulting in widespread disruption to electricity supplies.
Several highways were also closed because of flooding, landslides and unsafe travel conditions, authorities said.
Sarthak Shrestha, a remote sensing and geoinformation analyst at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said a preliminary assessment did not indicate any significant anomaly on the Chinese side of the border.
“We believe a rock-ice avalanche occurred in Nepal, blocking the Lhende river and causing the cascading flood event,” he told AFP.
The disaster also affected the Tibet side of the border, where Chinese state media reported major casualties linked to a mudslide at the Gyirong Port, a key trade hub between China and Nepal.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that a disaster originating on the Nepalese side had caused major casualties and left people missing around Gyirong Port. Footage broadcast by CCTV showed rapidly moving water carrying tree branches and debris and inundating roads.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an “all-out” rescue operation, directing authorities to search for missing people, treat the injured and minimise casualties.
“The most urgent task is doing everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people,” Xi said, according to CCTV.
Traffic authorities in Tibet’s Shigatse also warned that roads in the area were at risk of mudslides and unsafe for passage.
The situation raised concerns about the possibility of further flooding, with authorities monitoring conditions upstream.
Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at ICIMOD, warned that another flood could occur.
“With a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur,” he told AFP.
The disaster comes amid the annual South Asian monsoon season, when heavy rains regularly trigger deadly floods and landslides across Nepal and neighbouring countries.
Scientists have warned that climate change is contributing to more frequent and intense extreme-weather events across the region, increasing risks to communities living in mountainous and flood-prone areas.
The latest disaster also highlights the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, highways and tourism routes in Nepal’s remote mountainous regions, where access for emergency responders can be severely restricted following landslides and floods.
A similar incident occurred near Gyirong Port in July last year, when 17 people went missing following a mudslide, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.
