Death toll from Nepal-Tibet border flash flood rises to 95
The death toll from Wednesday’s Himalayan flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border has risen to 95, police said, as rescuers warned a second wave could hit already-devastated villages downstream.
Source: The Star Malaysia · August 26, 2026 at 8:31 PM · AI-assisted report
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NEPAL, TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION, RASUWAGADHI BORDER CROSSING, RASUWA DISTRICT, KATHMANDU, GYIRONG COUNTY, UTTAR PRADESH, BIHAR, BHOTE KOSHI RIVER, GANDAK RIVER, SYAPRU BESI, TIMURE, 27 AUGUST 2026 —
The death toll from Wednesday’s Himalayan flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border has risen to 95, police said, as rescuers warned a second wave could hit already-devastated villages downstream.
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At least 341 foreign travellers remain missing, including more than 100 Indians, three Americans and twelve Britons, according to Nepal’s tourism ministry. Security footage from both sides of the border showed entire settlements swept away by a torrent of mud, rock and water that descended from nearly 2,000 metres above sea level.
Nepali police said rescue teams had recovered 95 bodies and were treating 65 injured people in hospitals across Rasuwa district and Kathmandu. Dozens of locals were also unaccounted for. South Korea separately reported eight of its nationals working on a hydropower plant in the area were missing, officials said.
Chinese state media said authorities had deployed 601 personnel, 113 vehicles and search dogs to the Gyirong port in Tibet’s Shigatse region after the mudslide cut roads, communications and power. A rescuer told CCTV the situation was “quite severe,” with thick mud and continuous rain threatening to raise water levels at any moment. President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out” search efforts and stronger early-warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said satellite imagery indicated a landslide of snow and rock on the Lhende river, about 20 km northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing, triggered the debris flood. The agency warned a blockage still lodged upstream could collapse and send a second flood downstream, while rescue helicopters were unable to land in the worst-hit areas of Syapru Besi and Timure.
Initial reports suggested a 4.4 magnitude earthquake seven minutes before the disaster may have triggered an avalanche, but the German Research Centre for Geosciences said the timing had not been confirmed. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said the cause of the ice-rock avalanche into the Lhende Khola river remained unconfirmed.
The flood follows last year’s Bhote Koshi disaster, which killed nine and left 24 missing after a supraglacial lake in Tibet drained, washing away the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge and disrupting trade for months. Evacuations were under way in India’s northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where authorities said they had moved about 5,000 people from six districts and planned to relocate up to 12,000 more.
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