DEVIGHAT, Nepal — Rescue teams searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier following a glacier collapse.
Videos of the disaster showed people running before the floodwaters crashed over them and washed out buildings and bridges. More than 350 people were killed, police said, and more than 1,300 were missing, including scores of foreigners and pilgrims. Hundreds of others have been displaced across the Himalayan region.
The steep slopes and lush valleys below the Himalayan mountain range — home to many of the world’s highest peaks and remaining glaciers — are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Melting glaciers have become more common because of human-caused climate change.
Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and some stunned survivors were caked in mud.
The disaster has left at least 826 people missing in Nepal. Authorities in Tibet, an autonomous region of China, reported at least three dead and 558 missing.
Nepalese officials said that dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 25 miles of roads were damaged, complicating search efforts.
The Nepalese army has rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said.
Dozens of injured people have been transported to Kathmandu for medical care.
Rescuers found bodies in Chitwan district hundreds of miles downstream from the hardest-hit areas.
Bishal Kumar Bhandari, chairman of the Nepal Red Cross Society, said the agency has shifted its focus from rescue to large-scale relief operations. He said that around 1,200 people were displaced from at least three villages.
In Tibet, a mudslide that struck Wednesday near the land border crossing of Gyirong Port left mud in the surrounding areas that was more than 5 feet deep on average, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
China’s premier, Li Qiang, arrived Thursday in Gyirong to direct rescue efforts, alongside 500 military and paramilitary personnel.
Chinese authorities also warned that a lake at the confluence of the Tsogyal and the Purupqiangzangbu rivers is overflowing and may burst.
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, announced Thursday on X that he has ordered the release of $2 million from the U.N.’s Central Emergency Response Fund to help with medical care, shelter and water. He called the floods “horrifying.”
Among the missing are 517 foreigners, according to Nepal’s tourism board. They include 178 people from India, more than 60 from the U.S. and people from 30 other countries, including Ukraine, the U.K., South Africa and Japan, the board said.
Many of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.
The U.S. has rescued a handful of Americans, outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday that 288 of their nationals, including some workers on a power project, were missing.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said that nearly 100 Chinese citizens were missing in Nepal. He said that according to preliminary information, 260 of those missing in Tibet were foreigners.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the seismic event was a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream.
Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday’s flash flood.
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