More than 290 dead and almost 1,500 missing in the brutal flood in Nepal and Tibet

BarcelonaThe brutal floods on Wednesday at the border between Nepal and Tibet, which have buried entire villages, have left nearly 1,500 people missing, most of them tourists, according to authorities. The provisional death toll is 289 on the Nepalese side and three on the Tibetan side. Rescue teams are working against the clock to locate the missing in this mountainous Himalayan region, very popular with hikers and pilgrims, including hundreds of citizens from India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Rescue teams have not yet been able to access the most affected areas and it is feared that the final toll will be much worse.

Videos recorded by pedestrians and security cameras show a huge mass of water and mud rushing over the border as people try to flee. Overturned trucks and houses, roads, power plants, and bridges swept away by the water. China has warned that there could be "many victims" in Tibet.

Almost 600 foreigners are among the 826 people missing in Nepal, according to police and tourism officials. Among them are 177 Indian citizens, 63 North Americans, 34 Australians, 33 Britons, 25 Canadians, and 4 Spaniards. Chinese state media have reported that at least 558 people are missing on the Tibetan side of the border, of whom at least 260 are foreigners. Nepal police have reported that up to late Wednesday, 165 bodies had been recovered. Chinese state media have reported three deaths on the Tibetan side of the border, but the figure is expected to increase during today. India has reported that it has 288 nationals missing, of whom 200 are on the Tibetan side.

Pilgrimage

Many of the victims were participating in a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists, among others.

Initial information from Nepalese authorities suggested that an earthquake might have caused the detachment of the lower part of a glacier and triggered the floods. However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) later clarified that there had been no earthquake, and that what appeared to be a seismic event of magnitude 4.4 was actually a jolt generated by the glacial rock and ice detachment itself.

A preliminary study of satellite images from Planet Labs indicates that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a sediment-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 20 kilometers northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and China, according to Nepal's national disaster management authority. Experts warn that the risk of such phenomena is exacerbated by the extreme orography of the Himalayas.