At least eight people have died and hundreds of tourists, including British and American nationals, are missing after an avalanche of ice and rock triggered catastrophic flash floods in Nepal on Wednesday. The disaster has swept through villages and damaged infrastructure, with authorities confirming 384 tourists are unaccounted for.
Tourists from multiple nations missing
Local media reports say the missing tourists include 105 Indian nationals, 12 from the United Kingdom, four from South Africa, 17 from Malaysia and three from the USA. One tourist each from Australia and the Netherlands has also been reported unaccounted for.
The Bhotekoshi River burst its banks at approximately 9am on Wednesday, obliterating numerous villages alongside roads and hydropower facilities, officials confirmed. Warnings were issued to inhabitants of several Nepali districts, urging them to keep clear of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani riverbanks.
Government seeks international help
"We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts," stated Sasmit Pokharel, a government spokesperson.
Rasuwa district bore the brunt of the disaster, experiencing flash floods reminiscent of those in August last year, when a glacial lake in neighbouring Tibet overflowed due to soaring temperatures in the mountain region. Nine lives were lost and vital infrastructure, including a bridge linking the two nations, sustained damage during that incident.
Climate experts point to glacier avalanche
Climate specialists at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development believe a glacier avalanche likely sparked Wednesday's flash flood. They reported that the Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River, experienced peak flooding on Wednesday.
"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.
Warming Himalaya increases vulnerability
The Himalayan territory, which spans Nepal and numerous neighbouring nations including India, faces particular vulnerability to torrential rainfall, flooding and landslides as the region is experiencing temperature rises more rapidly than elsewhere globally due to human-driven climate change. Studies have demonstrated that severe weather phenomena including heatwaves, intense precipitation and glacier melting have grown more commonplace across the area.
Scientists at the Kathmandu research group discovered earlier this year that glaciers throughout the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are disappearing at an increasing pace, with ice loss rates having doubled since 2000 predominantly owing to escalating worldwide temperatures and climate change.
