At least 72 people have died and some 384 tourists, including more than 290 foreign nationals, are missing after a massive flash flood swept through central Nepal on Wednesday, the authorities have said.
According to Nepal police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle, the search and rescue team are still looking for an unknown number of people missing in the flood. "So far, the search and rescue team have found 72 bodies. The search is still under way," Kafle told dpa.
Senior superintendent Rajendra Prasad Dhamala, who is monitoring the search in the affected Bagmati province, said most of the bodies were found in downstream areas. He said full details would not be available until Thursday. A senior police official told dpa on the condition of anonymity that the exact number of people missing could be in the thousands.
Nepal Tourism Board director Santosh Panta told dpa in Kathmandu that the missing tourists include 93 Nepalis, based on preliminary records obtained from trekking and travel agencies operating in the area. Most of the non-nationals are Indians, who were using the route to travel to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, Panta said.
Kafle said earlier that 26 police personnel were among those missing, but warned that the actual number of people missing could be higher, as government revenue officials and hydropower workers are also unaccounted for.
"So far, we only have confirmation of 26 police personnel who remain missing in the flood. We also have missing information of government revenue officials, hydropower workers among others. But we are still collecting the data," Kafle told dpa.
Thousands of travellers and trekkers on the popular Langtang route remain stranded. The Rasuwagadhi border point is Nepal's largest trading point with its northern neighbour China.
Media reported widespread destruction in villages along the Himalayan Bhotekoshi River, which rises in the Tibetan highlands and flows through the Nepalese province of Bagmati.
Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah announced the deployment of the army and other security agencies for rescue operations, with additional manpower moving to the affected zone. Authorities have issued a disaster alert to residents living in downstream areas.
Locals described it as one of the worst floods in recent decades. Social media videos showed heavy destruction in settlements near the border with Tibet and surrounding areas. The flood swept away several hydropower projects and bridges along its course.
It was initially unclear what had caused the flash flood, with one explanation being that it was triggered by a glacial lake burst upstream in Tibet.
China's state news agency Xinhua reported fears of numerous casualties and missing people at the border crossing in Gyirong county in the south-west of the Tibet region.
The mudslide had cut off roads to the border crossing as well as power supplies and communications links, Xinhua reported. Video footage on social media and photographs showed brown masses of mud inundating the river valley.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all means to be used to search for the missing and bring people in the region to safety, Xinhua reported. He also urged that the early warning system be strengthened, according to the agency.
Xi, who is also the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, issues such instructions only in cases of particularly serious disasters. He also dispatched senior Communist Party official Zhang Guoqing to the affected region to oversee rescue operations.