At least 579 people have been confirmed dead and more than 1,900 remain missing after a glacier collapse triggered devastating flash floods in Nepal's Himalayan region. Survivors gathered at an army camp in Bidur, where rescue operations are being coordinated, wept for relatives and homes swept away by the deluge.
The disaster began when a melting glacier high in the Himalayas between Tibet and Nepal splintered and crashed into the valley below, setting off a deadly cascade of water, mud, rock and ice down the Bhote Koshi River. The impact was so strong that experts initially reported it as an earthquake. Villages along the riverbank and mountainside were obliterated, along with power stations, roads and bridges.
Survivors recount harrowing escapes
Sangke Dolma Tamang, 61, was cooking snacks in her village of Mailung in the Rasuwa district when the floods came without warning. As her family ran uphill, her husband slipped from her grip and was washed into the dark waters. “Others tried to pull him to safety, but the flood swept him away,” she said. Her son has also been missing since the disaster. “Now I have nothing left to live for,” she added. “The whole house is gone. We couldn’t salvage anything.”
Murali Maiya Tamang, 60, was found hanging in a tree after her house was washed away. She said her husband died in Nepal's 2015 earthquake, and now the flood has taken her only son. “I am all alone now. What is the point of living now?” she asked.
Rescue efforts continue amid rising waters
At the army barracks in Bidur, helicopters carrying rescued people arrived every few minutes, while others flew out with food and clean water to high mountain areas. On Friday morning, ground rescue efforts were halted over fears that river levels were rising again. Nepali army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet said helicopter rescues would continue as long as people were missing. “Right now, our focus is mostly on finding the living,” he said.
Many at the barracks awaited news of relatives who had been working on hydroelectric projects along the Bhote Koshi River, many of which were washed away with tunnels filled with mud. Footage showed rescuers pulling some workers to safety from within the tunnels.
Devastation in Bidur and ongoing search
The town of Bidur, on the banks of the Trishuli River, was reduced to mangled debris in minutes. The ruins of a bank, a government office and an ATM booth stood half submerged in mud. Rescuers said bodies were buried inside, but the terrain was too unstable to collect them.
Nepal's newly elected home minister, Sudan Gurung, surveyed the damage on Friday afternoon. “It so sad to see such a heavy loss of human lives,” he said. “Our priority right now is rescuing people. We are searching for everyone who is still missing, assuming that they are all alive. We are searching for everyone, whether they are Nepali citizens or international nationals.”
Shopkeeper Ashok Chaurasia said he heard the roar of the water before he saw it. He survived by just 20 seconds, clinging to a monastery wall, but his nephew and sister-in-law were not so lucky. “We had a three-storey house here, and now there isn't even a single brick left,” he said. “The flood took everything I have.”
