Flash Flood Claims at Least 17 Lives on Nepal‑Tibet Border
At least 17 people have been killed when a massive flash flood and mudslide along the Nepal‑Tibet border swept villages, tore roads and damaged infrastructure, police confirmed on Wednesday.
The deluge struck Rasuwa district, north of Kathmandu, early on Wednesday after rapid snowmelt fed the Bhote Koshi river. The torrent "broke the banks", the police said, bringing down homes and a nearby hydropower plant.
Search and rescue units are operating across the border. Twelve people have so far been recovered from the wrecked villages, officials said, while the main road to Kathmandu remains closed and communications have been cut.
Chinese state media noted "significant casualties" on the Tibetan side, and Nepal’s disaster services urged residents to stay alert. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said a medical team and the Red Cross were coordinating relief efforts.
"Our logistics company has seven container trucks stationed there, all staffed by Nepalese employees, but we’ve lost contact with all of them. There is no signal, so we cannot reach anyone," said Yee Liang, a businessman based in Kathmandu.
In Kathmandu, officials said that thirteen armed police officers were missing from two posts in Rasuwa, while dozens of other officers were uncontactable.
The area had suffered a deadly flood last year when a glacier burst on the Chinese side of the border, killing 18 people. Officials now predict that the scale of this disaster exceeds last year’s.
Images show mud and sand piled against a damaged hydropower plant. Rescue helicopters are struggling to reach the site due to high winds, according to a Sichuan resident who lost contact with his wife, a construction worker in Tibet.
The disaster has prompted Nepal’s disaster‑management authority to issue warnings to communities living on river banks and to take precautionary measures.
