As the death toll from a devastating flash flood triggered by a collapsing glacier reached 626 people, Nepalese authorities continued a perilous search for nearly 2,000 missing individuals. Rescue operations faced severe disruptions due to fears of a second flood from an overflowing border lake shared with China.
The disaster struck when a glacier collapsed into the Bhotekoshi river, sending a wall of ice, mud, and water crashing through Himalayan valleys. Parvati Thapa, a 49-year-old social worker, spent her time running her finger down a dozen pages of survivor names taped to the wall of Nepalese army barracks in Batar, searching for her 73-year-old father, Noor Bahadur Thapa. Like many others, she found his name missing from the regularly updated list.
The figure was expected to rise further as the crucial 48 to 72-hour window for finding survivors slipped away. The International Red Cross reported that nearly 100,000 people were in need of assistance.
Drones, Mud Slides, and the Race Against a Second Lake
Rescue efforts on Thursday morning suffered immediate setbacks when fears of a second flood halted operations. A lake on the border of China and Nepal threatened to burst its banks as drone footage captured snow and ice falling into the water body, causing it to overflow for a few hours before water levels eventually dropped. Chinese state TV reported that the threat of a fresh disaster gradually decreased
as the levels receded.
Meanwhile, in Rasuwa, the Nepalese army carried out an extraordinary rescue mission inside a tunnel where 100 power-plant workers had been trapped. Video footage displayed camouflage-clad soldiers sliding on their bellies to reach, grab, and pull survivors to safety from a thick layer of mud that left them barely able to lift their hands. Helicopters landed continuously at Batar to drop off survivors and return immediately to the worst-hit zones.
Across the border, a Chinese rescue team consisting of 16 firefighters and a rescue dog reached Gyirong Port, which had been submerged under a wall of rock, water, ice, and debris. Utilizing inflatable boats, mountain foot travel, and heavy-lift drones, the team searched the devastated border post using water, land and air,
according to Xinhua state media.
Trishuli Residents Confront an Apocalyptic Landscape
In the towns of Bidur and Trishuli, separated by the river upstream from the army base, police rode motorcycles urging residents to seek safety on higher ground. More than 100 homes were destroyed in Trishuli alone, leaving streets lined with debris and rescuers working in raincoats alongside Nepalese soldiers.
I have never seen anything like this in my life. It was apocalyptic. I have seen Hollywood movies where people are running away and walls of water are chasing them, but never in real life. Amrish Kumar Talwar, shopkeeper in Trishuli
Mr. Talwar’s shop was washed away in the flood, and his son suffered a fractured leg, forcing the father to communicate with him only by telephone after the bridge linking the towns was destroyed. Other residents, such as Parvati Adhikari, escaped wearing only a red sari and slippers, taking shelter with relatives in Bidur after their home was completely swept away.
Rebuilding Plans and Missing Foreign Nationals
Faced with widespread destruction, the Nepalese government declined offers of foreign rescue assistance, requesting instead financial aid to help rebuild devastated riverside communities. Nepal’s finance minister told Reuters that the nation would require at least $4bn (£3bn) to execute reconstruction efforts.
The search also extended internationally as British citizens flew into Nepal to look for missing family members. Among the missing are a family of four, which includes a 13-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy who had just completed his A-levels at Royal Grammar School in Guildford.
Satellite footage captured a second lake rapidly swelling by Thursday afternoon, drawing water from the first and overtaking its surface area. With authorities expressing concern that upcoming rainfall could trigger additional flooding, the future pace of rescue operations remains dependent on weather conditions in the Himalayan valleys.
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