At least eight people have been killed and hundreds of tourists, including Britons, are reported missing after a massive avalanche triggered flash floods along the Bhotekoshi River in Nepal.
Hundreds of individuals were declared missing following an avalanche of ice and rock which sparked catastrophic flash flooding across regions of Nepal on Wednesday, claiming at least eight lives and wreaking havoc on communities and vital infrastructure.
384 Tourists Missing
Authorities confirmed 384 tourists are missing. According to local media reports these include 105 Indian nationals, 12 from the United Kingdom, four from South Africa, 17 from Malaysia and three from the USA.
While one each from Australia and the Netherlands has also been reported unaccounted for. It comes after the Bhotekoshi River burst its banks around 9 am on Wednesday, destroying multiple settlements alongside roads and hydropower facilities, officials confirmed.
Emergency alerts were issued to inhabitants of numerous Nepali districts, urging them to keep clear of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani riverbanks.
Rescue Efforts and Regional Impact
"We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts," stated Sasmit Pokharel, a spokesperson for the Nepali government.
The most severely impacted region, Rasuwa district, experienced comparable torrential flooding to last August, when a glacial lake in neighbouring Tibet breached due to elevated temperatures throughout the mountainous terrain. Nine individuals perished and essential infrastructure including a bridge linking the two nations sustained damage during that incident.
Climate Experts Weigh In
Climate specialists at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development suggest a glacial avalanche probably triggered Wednesday's flash flooding.
The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River, experienced peak flooding on Wednesday, they confirmed. "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, spanning Nepal and several neighbouring countries including India, faces particular vulnerability to severe rainfall, flooding and landslides as the area is experiencing temperature rises faster than the global average due to human-induced climate change.
Studies have demonstrated that extreme weather phenomena including heatwaves, intense rainfall and glacier melting have grown more common across the region. Scientists at the Kathmandu research group discovered earlier this year that glaciers throughout the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an increasing pace, with ice loss rates having doubled since 2000 mainly because of climbing global temperatures and climate change.
