‘Massive casualties’ after flash floods, landslide strike China-Nepal border
An unknown number of people are also missing as rescuers search the rubble of a border checkpoint in Tibet’s Gyirong county
Dozens of people were dead and hundreds of others – many of them foreign tourists – were missing on Wednesday night, hours after massive flash floods and landslides engulfed a border area between China and Nepal.
Chinese state media reported that the disaster struck Nepal at around 9am, spilling over into Gyirong county in the Tibet autonomous region, causing “major casualties and missing persons” at a border checkpoint in the county, which is administered by the city of Shigatse.
Footage circulating online showed a landslide descending on the Gyirong Port checkpoint in seconds as people on the ground fled, before mud and debris obscured the camera. The South China Morning Post could not independently verify the video.
Gyirong Port is Tibet’s main foreign trade port and handles the vast majority of China’s trade with Nepal.
Quoting a rescue command centre in Gyirong, state broadcaster CCTV reported that by 8pm three people were dead and 265 were missing after the landslide in the county.
Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper quoted Nepalese police as saying 97 people had been killed and 54 rescued in Nepal.