Rescue teams in Nepal and China are urgently searching for thousands of individuals still unaccounted for after a glacier collapse caused a devastating mudslide in the Himalayan region. The disaster, which occurred on Wednesday, has resulted in 750 confirmed fatalities as of Sunday morning, with more than 3,000 people missing on both sides of the Nepal-China border.
The mudslide unleashed a powerful surge of ice, rock, mud, and debris that swept through mountain valleys and river channels, causing widespread destruction. The Red Cross estimates that over 90,000 people have been affected by this catastrophe, which Chinese authorities attribute to the impacts of climate change.
In a significant development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the event as the “most severe cross-border disaster” in recent years during a phone conversation with his Nepalese counterpart. He also noted the unprecedented difficulty and complexity of the ongoing rescue operations.
Nepal’s disaster management agency reported 734 deaths, 2,498 missing persons, and 7,514 individuals rescued so far. On the Chinese side, 16 fatalities have been confirmed in Gyirong County, with 546 people still missing. Additionally, 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries remain unaccounted for in Tibet near a major border crossing with Nepal.
The challenging terrain and adverse weather have severely hampered rescue efforts. Local authorities in Nepal have urged residents and rescuers to move to higher ground after rising water levels in the Trishuli River, caused by recent rainfall, raised concerns about further flooding. Rescue activities have been repeatedly suspended since Friday due to poor weather and fears that an overflow from a newly formed lake at the Nepal-China border could trigger additional floods downstream.
By Saturday evening, the threatening lake had been largely drained, but drones detected a fresh landslide about 2.8 kilometers downstream, creating a new dam and pool of water that poses ongoing risks.
Rescue teams in Nepal have shifted focus toward hundreds of people believed trapped inside tunnels at hydropower plants damaged by the floodwaters. Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for Nepal’s foreign ministry, emphasized the need for international support in specialized areas such as tunnel rescues, DNA testing, refrigerated storage for bodies, and forensic identification of decomposed remains. Experts from India and China are already collaborating to assist with these efforts.
Meanwhile, Nepalese authorities have begun mass burials of hundreds of unidentified victims whose bodies have started to decompose. In Chitwan district, which was spared the disaster’s direct impact, bodies carried downstream from the affected Rasuwa region have been found in the Narayani River. Authorities are documenting these bodies through photographs, DNA samples, and other identifying information in hopes families may still identify their loved ones after burial.
Police officer Anil Thapa described the grim condition of the recovered bodies, noting that more than half are unrecognizable, with many missing faces or only partial remains such as hands or legs. After burying over 100 unidentified victims on Saturday, officials are preparing additional graves for hundreds more.
The glacier collapse has been linked to long-term climate change effects, with Chinese scientists stating that glacier instability due to global warming was the primary cause. The mudslide took six to seven minutes to reach the Gyirong border crossing, with dramatic footage circulating worldwide showing torrents of water and debris engulfing buildings as people fled.
China has deployed over 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan (approximately $32.7 million) to support relief operations. Supplies and equipment are being airdropped to frontline teams, and soldiers are utilizing life-detection technology to locate missing individuals.
