Earthquake-Triggered Landslide Sets Off Nepal Flash Flood, 384 Tourists Reported Missing Including Americans

A flash flood tore through Nepal's Rasuwa district on Wednesday morning, killing at least eight people and leaving hundreds missing near the border with Tibet. Nepal's foreign minister says the cause was an earthquake, not just melting ice.

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal told the House of Representatives that a 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 8:37 a.m. local time Wednesday. That quake triggered a large landslide that blocked the Bhote Koshi River, according to Khanal, and the blockage gave way in a sudden flood. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 4.4-magnitude earthquake in the region at the same time, according to CNN.

That account differs from earlier reporting. The Associated Press, whose wire copy ran in outlets including Boston 25 News, Click Orlando and WBAL, cited climate researchers at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development who said an ice-and-rock avalanche from a glacier likely blocked the Lhende Khola, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi, and caused the surge. Disaster risk specialist Saswata Sanyal told the AP the Lhende Khola has now flooded twice in fourteen months. Nepal's own foreign minister's earthquake explanation, reported later by CNN, has not been reconciled with the glacier-avalanche theory, and it remains unclear whether both mechanisms played a role.

The scale of the missing

The Nepal Tourism Board put the preliminary missing count at 384 people as of Wednesday: 291 foreign nationals and 93 Nepali citizens, according to a statement posted to X and reported by ABC News. The board stressed the number is preliminary and still being verified with travel agencies, guides and security agencies.

Among the foreign nationals, 105 were from India, according to the Times of India, which cited the Tourism Board's list. Others came from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Malaysia and South Africa. ABC News reported at least three Americans were listed missing, all traveling with a Nepali company called Fishtail Tours and Travel, which confirmed the detail to ABC News but had no further information on their condition.

A large share of the missing are believed to be pilgrims headed to Tibet for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Bashu Kumar Adhikari, managing director of Touch Kailash Travels & Tours, told The Kathmandu Post that 390 pilgrims, including 93 Nepalis, were scheduled to cross the border Wednesday, and that contact had been lost with all but a few of them as of 3 p.m. local time.

CNN reported that 60 employees of the under-construction Langtang Khola Hydroelectric Project, a 20-megawatt facility in Rasuwa municipality, are also missing. Nepali state media outlet RSS said the workers were doing concrete construction inside a tunnel when the flood hit, causing severe damage to the site.

Rescue efforts and the border crossing

The flood struck the Rasuwagadhi-Timure area around 9 a.m. local time, according to the Times of India, and hit the towns of Syaphru Besi and Timure hardest. District administrator Narendra Pariyar told Reuters, as carried by Al Jazeera, that "there could be heavy casualties or loss of property, but I cannot say for sure now." He urged residents along the Bhote Koshi to move to higher ground.

Water levels were too high in places for rescue helicopters to land, according to Al Jazeera. Nepal's government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel said Nepal has asked both India and China for help with rescue operations, according to the Associated Press.

The Nepali Army posted on X that air rescue operations were ongoing Wednesday and urged residents to remain vigilant and stay in safe areas. More than 25 people had been rescued by Wednesday afternoon, according to Nepal Army officials cited by local media and reported by the Times of India.

The Red Cross has deployed an emergency team with relief supplies to the affected region, activating emergency response teams and mobilizing volunteers, according to a statement from its regional office reported by CNN. The International Federation of Red Cross said it stands ready to support further response.

Damage on the Chinese side

The flood and an associated mudslide also struck China's Gyirong port crossing in the Shigatse region of Tibet, cutting off roads, communications and power, according to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua reported "major casualties" with people missing in Gyirong county but did not provide further detail. Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered "all-out" search and rescue efforts and called for strengthened monitoring and early-warning systems to prevent secondary disasters, Xinhua reported.

What's still unknown

Nepal experienced a comparable flash flood in the same Rasuwa district roughly a year earlier, in August 2025, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed amid high mountain temperatures, killing nine people and damaging a cross-border bridge, according to the Associated Press. Researchers at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development have documented accelerating glacial melt across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000.

Whether Wednesday's disaster was primarily a seismic event, a glacial avalanche, or some combination of both remains unresolved between Nepal's foreign minister's earthquake account and the glaciologists' avalanche assessment. The Nepal Tourism Board's missing-persons count is still being verified, and officials in Kathmandu have not said when a fuller casualty toll, or confirmation on the three missing Americans, will be available.