At least 22 killed, hundreds missing after avalanche triggers deadly floods in Nepal

UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal — Massive flash floods in Nepal on Wednesday killed at least 22 people and left hundreds of tourists, workers and others missing while causing widespread damage to villages and infrastructure.

Officials said 384 tourists, including 291 from countries such as India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, were reported missing.

The Bhotekoshi River flooded around 9 a.m. local time Wednesday, destroying several villages, roads and hydropower projects, officials said.

“We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts,” said Sasmit Pokharel, a spokesperson for the Nepali government.

Dozens of multistoried buildings, trucks, and vans were buried under vast quantities of mud in the district of Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected areas. Officials warned residents in several of Nepal’s districts and asked them to stay away from the banks of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli, and Narayani rivers.

Nepal tourism board officials said most of the missing were likely tourists from India and the Indian diaspora on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus.

South Korean government officials said their citizens working on building a hydropower plant in Nepal were among those reported missing.

Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry also said its embassy in Kathmandu has received reports from travel agencies that they had lost contact with 11 Malaysians believed to be in the Rasuwa district, which was hit hard by the floods.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities were conducting large-scale search and rescue operations in the Tibetan border area of Gyirong, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Authorities didn't announce any numbers of dead or injured.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered authorities to step up the efforts for people missing after the mudslide, state news agency Xinhua reported. Xi also called for residents at risk to be evacuated from any area on the Chinese side.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah and offered help. “India is prepared to provide Nepal with all possible types of humanitarian assistance. Our teams are closely coordinating on rescue and relief efforts,” Modi said in a social media post.

The same regions affected by Wednesday's disaster saw flash floods similar to those in August last year, when a glacial lake in neighboring Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures in the mountain region. Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged at the time.

Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development say an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday's flash flood.

The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River, witnessed maximum flooding Wednesday, they said.

“The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in fourteen months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the climate research group.

“In a warming Himalaya, early warning is the first line of adaptation,” he added.

The Himalayan region, which spans Nepal and several nearby countries, including India, is especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because it is warming faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Research shows that extreme weather events, including heat waves and rains, and melting glaciers, have become more frequent in the region.

Researchers in Kathmandu found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000 primarily due to rising global temperatures and climate change.