{"id":606113,"date":"2026-08-27T10:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/606113\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:38:21","slug":"i-tried-to-grab-my-wifes-hand-about-1500-missing-after-nepal-tibet-flash-floods-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/606113\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I tried to grab my \u200cwife\u2019s \u200chand\u2019: About 1,500 missing after Nepal-Tibet flash floods \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

About 1,500 people including at least 800 foreigners are missing across Nepal<\/a> and China<\/a>\u2019s Tibet<\/a>, authorities said on Thursday, after a glacial wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan \u200criver, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys.<\/p>\n

Alpine Eco Trek, which offers guided tours and expeditions in Nepal, told the Press Association that two Irish nationals were among those missing from its tour groups.<\/p>\n

Police said they expected the death toll to rise beyond 165. \u201cThis will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered,\u201d a police spokesperson told Reuters. <\/p>\n

Rescuers are struggling to reach communities cut off by floods.<\/p>\n

Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off after Wednesday\u2019s disaster swept a rugged mountainous region thronged by trekkers and pilgrims linking Lhasa in Tibet with the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. \u200b<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials said.<\/p>\n

Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 were from India, 63 were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.<\/p>\n

The tally of missing in Tibet\u2019s Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster \u200bCCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals.<\/p>\n

Verified videos showed crushing masses of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong, with homes, roads and power projects washed away further downstream in Nepal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards \u2060us,\u201d said Keshav Prasad Baral (68), a survivor being treated in hospital.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What triggered catastrophic flood on the Nepal-Tibet border?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Two Irish among hundreds of tourists missing after deadly flash flood on Nepal-Tibet borderOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0‘Saved by a tree’: How a Nepali worker survived flash floodOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my \u200cwife\u2019s \u200chand \u200band take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. \u201cMy wife is still somewhere beneath the mud,\u201d he added. \u201cShe\u2019s gone.\u201d Another survivor said he saved himself by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.<\/p>\n

In \u2060the hardest-hit districts, helicopters are dropping tents, food and other emergency supplies provided by neighbouring India, \u200bsaid a spokesperson for Nepal\u2019s army. <\/p>\n

More than 5,000 army and police rescue personnel were \u200bmobilised to look for survivors and find bodies. Early reports from Nepali officials suggested an earthquake in the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods.<\/p>\n

The US Geological Survey said an earthquake \u200cwith magnitude initially reported as 4.4 was in fact seismic energy generated by the \u200bcollapse of glacial rock and ice, followed by debris flow.<\/p>\n

Chinese authorities have identified risks from a still-dammed lake in Gyirong, upstream from the mudslide and flood-stricken Tibet-Nepal border crossing that could significantly complicate rescue efforts \u2060in the mountainous site, CCTV reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Many of the victims were making a pilgrimage \u2060to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by \u200bHindus and Buddhists among others.<\/p>\n

Mount Kailash, which Hindus believe to be the abode of Lord Shiva, lies on the banks of Lake Mansarovar, also held sacred in various religions.<\/p>\n

The US State Department said it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500,000 (\u20ac429,000).<\/p>\n

Canada was also closely following the situation, Prime minister Mark Carney said on X, describing the floods as \u201cabsolutely devastating\u201d.<\/p>\n

UN teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to support affected Nepali communities, secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn aerial view shows houses lying deluged in sludge after flash floods at Devighat, Bidur Municipality, in Nepal’s Nuwakot district. Photograph: Prabin RANABHAT\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said details on the disaster were scant.<\/p>\n

\u201cNepal … is a developing country,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sagar Pandey, the chief executive of a Himalayan tourism operator, said 15 Indian-Australians on a pilgrimage tour with the company were missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no human-made things, no human settlement left. Everything is just flat,\u201d he told Reuters after flying over the zone in a helicopter. \u201cSo anyone in the hotel, the restaurant, or the car, I believe that everybody \u200cis gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Security \u2060footage captured on the Chinese side of the border showed many people fleeing from a torrent of rock, mud and water that destroyed buildings and vehicles. <\/p>\n

People seeking information about family members missing from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading gathered outside a Nepali army training centre that was the base for helicopter rescue operations, the images showed. <\/p>\n

In the affected areas, layers of \u200cmud metres thick swathed homes, trees and vehicles. Helicopters ferrying survivors hovered overhead all day.<\/p>\n

An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery showed a landslide of ice and rock unleashed a flood carrying debris in the Lhende River, about 20km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi \u200bborder crossing, Nepal disaster management officials said on X.<\/p>\n

\"RescueRescue personnel carry the body of a victim who died after flash floods near Devighat, Bidur Municipality, in Nepal’s Nuwakot district. Photograph: Ishara S. KODIKARA\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Television images showed collapsed homes, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, while witnesses said \u200bthe waters engulfed entire villages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is devastation everywhere we look,\u201d said Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.\u201d \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 1,500 people including at least 800 foreigners are missing across Nepal and China\u2019s Tibet, authorities said on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114,42,9419,43,91892,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-606113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-china","tag-headlines","tag-nepal","tag-news","tag-tibet","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}