Nepal Flood Death Toll Rises to 98, Missing Count Grows Past 550 on Chinese Side

The confirmed death toll from the Nepal-China border flood has risen to at least 98, according to NPR and the Associated Press, up from the 95 fatalities Nepal's prime minister's office first reported. China's state broadcaster CCTV puts the death toll on its side of the border at three, unchanged, but the missing count there has exploded.

Local officials in the Tibetan city of Shigatse told a press conference that 558 people are now unaccounted for in Gyirong county, according to CNN, citing CCTV. This is more than double the 265 figure Chinese authorities gave on Wednesday. Two people have been rescued since the landslide hit, Chinese officials said, though their identities and conditions haven't been made public.

On the Nepal side, the missing figure has also grown and shifted as officials refine their counts. NPR reports 403 people are missing in Nepal, including 341 foreign nationals. That's down from the 484 total missing figure Nepal's tourism authority gave earlier Wednesday, a discrepancy that reflects how fluid these numbers are as search teams work through a disaster zone with wiped-out roads, bridges and communications.

American toll larger than first reported

Early Wednesday reporting from Fox News and Breitbart put the number of missing U.S. citizens at three. That figure has since been revised sharply upward. NPR, citing Nepal tourism board spokesperson Sunil Sharma, now reports 47 Americans are missing. CNN's live coverage, citing Nepali officials via AP, confirms the same 47 figure. No U.S. government source has independently confirmed that count as of this writing, and the State Department has not released its own tally.

Other nationals missing, per Sharma's breakdown reported by NPR: 133 Indians on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, 34 Australians, 33 Britons and 24 Canadians. South Korea's foreign ministry says nine of its citizens working on a hydropower plant are among the missing, an increase from the eight first reported by Breitbart and the Epoch Times. Malaysia's foreign ministry says its embassy has received reports of missing citizens from travel agencies, according to NPR.

At least 62 missing Nepali citizens were trekkers in the Gosaikunda Lake area of Rasuwa district, timed with the local Janai Purnima festival scheduled for Friday, Sharma told NPR. Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said at least 28 police officers are also missing.

What actually caused it: new scientific detail

Early reporting, including from Fox News and the Epoch Times, focused on a magnitude 4.4 earthquake recorded seven minutes before the disaster, with Nepal's foreign minister Shishir Khanal telling parliament an earthquake-triggered avalanche was a likely cause.

CNN's ongoing coverage adds a more specific mechanism. A landslide blocked the Bhote Koshi river, and a group of scientists believe a glacier may have broken off and fallen into the valley below, either triggering the landslide or compounding its effect. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the 4.4-magnitude quake about 100 kilometers north of Kathmandu, near the Tibet border, according to NPR. Whether the quake caused the glacier failure, or whether the two events were coincidental, has not been established by any source here. Nepal's government position, voiced by Khanal, treats the earthquake as the likely trigger. CNN's scientific sourcing treats the glacier collapse as a compounding or possibly independent factor. Both are live possibilities, not settled fact.

Infrastructure and economic damage

Breitbart reports over 12 percent of Nepal's hydropower capacity was knocked offline. The same outlet notes the Bhote Koshi river flooded badly in a similar event last year, killing nine people and destroying a "friendship bridge" that was part of the China-Nepal trade route. That prior flood underscores this isn't a freak one-off for the region. It's a recurring hazard tied to the same river system.

Rescue operations remain hampered. Nepalese officials said river levels were too high for helicopters to land in some of the worst-hit zones, according to Breitbart. Officials have told residents in districts along the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers to stay off the banks, NPR reported.

Regional response

India has moved past statements of solidarity into material aid. India's Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, formally handed over 10 tonnes of relief supplies to Nepal's tourism minister Khadak Raj Paudel, according to AP7AM, citing India's Ministry of External Affairs. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called it part of India's "Neighbourhood First" policy, noting India provided similar aid after the 2015 earthquake.

China's response has centered on its own casualty zone. Breitbart reports Xi Jinping ordered local officials to "spare no effort" on search and rescue, dispatching paramilitary units to Gyirong. Nepal's government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel told NPR his country has asked both India and China for rescue assistance.

South Korea said it will send a rapid response team, according to Breitbart. None of the sources here report a firm timeline for when full casualty and missing-persons counts, on either side of the border, will stabilize. Given how much the Chinese missing figure alone shifted in a single day, from 265 to 558, further revisions on both the Nepali and Chinese tolls are likely as search crews reach areas still cut off by destroyed roads and bridges.