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Flash floods and landslides along the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least 165 people, while more than 1,300 remain missing as rescue teams use helicopters, drones and emergency crews to search for survivors.
Nepal's disaster agency said Thursday that 823 people remained out of contact more than 24 hours after the floods swept through villages, towns and trekking routes near the border with Tibet. The figure included at least 579 Nepali and foreign tourists.
Nepali police said they had recovered 162 bodies, while Chinese state media reported three deaths at Gyirong Port in Tibet. Another 558 people remained missing on the Chinese side, including 260 foreigners.
Many of those still missing were foreign tourists, according to officials. The missing included more than 100 people from India, 54 from the U.S., 34 from Australia and 33 from the U.K. Nepal Police also said 28 officers remained missing.
Nepal's tourism board said foreigners still out of contact included nationals of India, Australia, Britain, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea and the United States.
The Nepali Army and private helicopter operators had airlifted 114 people to safety, while authorities were relocating residents from areas at risk.
The floods struck communities along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers, sweeping away vehicles and damaging vital infrastructure. Initial reports indicated that 19 bridges and a 40-kilometer (25-mile) stretch of a key highway had been destroyed, cutting transport links and complicating rescue efforts.
Satellite imagery indicated that a large chunk of ice had broken away from a Himalayan glacier about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) northeast of the Rasuwa-Rasuwagadhi border crossing, sending tons of ice and rock into the Bhotekoshi River, according to the Himalayan Times.
The cause of the disaster remains under investigation, with authorities considering a major landslide or rockslide on the Tibetan side as a possible trigger. Surveillance footage from the Chinese side showed mud and debris crashing over a several-story building as people fled, while buses and cars were swept away.
Nepal's government declared Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading "disaster crisis areas" for three months and mobilized the army and private helicopter operators for search-and-rescue operations.
Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal described the destruction in several districts as "extreme damage" and warned that only preliminary information was available.
Authorities urged people to remain alert along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli riverbanks in Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha and Chitwan, where the risk remained high.
Across the border, Tibet government officials mobilized nearly 800 emergency workers, 150 vehicles, sniffer dogs and speedboats to support rescue efforts. China's leader Xi Jinping said, "The most urgent task is doing everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people," according to CCTV.
India, China and the World Bank moved to coordinate financial assistance for rescue, relief and reconstruction in flood-affected areas, according to Nepal's Finance Ministry.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was dispatching blankets, first aid kits, stretchers and body bags.
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