Search and rescue personnel in Nepal are deploying aerial and ground teams to search for survivors after devastating flash floods brought the confirmed death toll to 359. Over 800 individuals, including hundreds of foreign visitors and local residents, remain missing across the impacted river basins.
The disaster struck early Wednesday when a massive mudslide and glacial collapse blocked and subsequently breached a primary river channel on the Nepal-Tibet frontier. The resulting wall of sludge swept through key travel routes connecting Kathmandu to Tibet, overwhelming settlements and border facilities.
Local administrations reported that more than 5,000 military and police personnel have been deployed, retrieving 125 survivors from isolated sectors on Thursday.
“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us. As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud,” declared 68-year-old survivor Keshav Prasad Baral while receiving medical treatment.
Government representatives maintained that search units are expanding their reach into downstream plains and border regions to recover victims and restore vital communication lines. Emergency relief agencies are setting up field facilities and coordinating with international diplomatic missions to process missing reports and assist stranded foreign nationals.
