More than 270 people have been confirmed dead and at least 1,300 remain missing in Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region after a glacial avalanche in the Himalayas sent a wall of water, mud, and rock crashing through border towns and valleys, according to Al Jazeera.
Rescue teams are racing against time to find survivors in an already treacherous landscape. At least 19 bridges and roughly 40 kilometers of roads have been destroyed, further complicating search efforts. Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said the death toll is expected to rise.
Satellite images captured by Planet Labs before and after the flood show numerous buildings and roads washed away. The imagery also reveals a large portion of Syapru Besi village buried under mud and debris. Drone footage released by Reuters documented mud covering areas in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, and surrounding regions, with mud deposits more than 1.5 meters thick on some road sections in the Gyirong Port area of Tibet, as reported by China's state broadcaster CCTV.
Timeline of Events
Around 8:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday, a massive chunk of ice broke off from a glacier above the Lhende River in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The ice and rock fell into the river, blocking its flow, and shortly afterward, when the obstruction gave way, a torrent of floodwater surged through residential areas in Nepal's Rasuwa district, destroying homes, hydropower plants, and border infrastructure.
The avalanche of snow and rock hit the river about 20 kilometers northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing. Initial reports suggested the landslide was triggered by a magnitude 4.4 earthquake, but the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) later clarified that the seismic signal was actually caused by the landslide itself, with a force equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake.
Affected Areas
According to Nepali officials, one of the hardest-hit areas is Rasuwa district, which borders China to the north. The floodwater surged down the Lhende Khola River, then into the Bhotekoshi River and onward to the Trishuli River, causing water levels to rise by up to 9 meters in just 30 minutes.
Timure and Syapru Besi are among the most severely affected settlements in Rasuwa. The flooding also reached parts of Nuwakot and Dhading districts. Victims' bodies have since been recovered further south in Gorkha, Tanahun, Chitwan, and the two Nawalparasi districts. In Tibet, mud and debris swept into Gyirong Port in Shigatse. The Trishuli River eventually merges with the Narayani River, which flows into India's Bihar state, where it is known as the Gandak River.
