Flooding in Nepal and Tibet caused by a glacier collapse: 160 bodies recovered, hundreds missing

“As far as we are aware, only two Italians were caught up in the incident: they are in good health and are being looked after by our Embassy in New Delhi and our consulates in India. We will do everything necessary to bring them home as soon as possible.” This was the statement made by the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani, regarding the landslide on the border between Nepal and Tibet. “As far as we are aware,” he added, “there are no Italian citizens amongst the other missing persons. In any case, we are constantly monitoring the situation through our Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Unit, in constant contact with our Embassy in New Delhi,” concluded Tajani.

The Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal reported on the disaster in Parliament, explaining that, according to preliminary information which is still being verified, the flooding in Rasuwa district may have been caused by an avalanche triggered by an earthquake that struck on Wednesday morning in Tibet. At 8.22 am local time, the US Geological Survey recorded an earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale just a few kilometres from the border with Nepal. The earthquake may have caused a section of a glacier to break off and fall downstream. This hypothesis was later refuted by the USGS itself (see below), which reversed its account of the events.

However, according to a subsequent study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), no earthquake occurred prior to the flood on the border between Nepal and Tibet. “This event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,” reads the update on the USGS website, “but further analysis of long-period seismic waves indicates that the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide”.

In Nepal, houses and roads have been swept away by a flash flood on the Bhote Koshi River, whilst on the other side of the border, Tibetan officials have said they fear “significant loss of life”, with several people missing in Gyirong County.

epa13193006 Le acque alluvionali travolgono Trishuli Bazar in seguito a un'inondazione improvvisa, nel distretto di Nuwakot, in Nepal, il 26 agosto 2026. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA

The Nepalese authorities have reported that rescue helicopters were unable to land in the affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure, in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, which has a population of around 50,000, as the river was flowing well above its normal level.

Footage broadcast on TV channels shows collapsed houses being swept away by the floodwaters, cars adrift and a massive metal bridge over the Trishuli River swept away by the flood. According to some witnesses quoted by Reuters, entire villages have reportedly been submerged by the floodwaters. Others claim to have seen the current sweep away ‘eight or nine lorries, along with houses and people’.

“There could be many casualties or significant material damage,” said Narendra Pariyar, the Nepalese district administrator, urging villagers living on the banks of the Bhote Koshi river to move to higher ground.

“There is devastation wherever we look,” explains Tula Bahadur BK, a healthcare worker from Rasuwa. “The settlements near the river have been completely swept away. Five of my relatives are missing.” According to the Nepalese army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet, rescue helicopters will not be able to land in the affected areas until the waters recede.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for every possible effort to be made to search for and rescue missing persons, to evacuate and rehouse residents threatened by the disaster, and to speed up treatment for the injured, with the aim of minimising the number of casualties. He also ordered that monitoring and early warning systems be strengthened, that rescue operations be conducted in accordance with scientific principles, and that secondary disasters be prevented.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has, in turn, asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to step up communication and coordination with the countries concerned and to share information promptly so that rescue operations can be managed jointly. On the instructions of Xi and Li, Deputy Premier Zhang Guoqing travelled to the scene with the heads of the relevant departments to oversee the rescue operations and emergency management. The Tibetan authorities have mobilised forces for search and rescue operations at the disaster site.

The Himalayan region is particularly prone to heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides because it is warming more rapidly than the rest of the world due to climate change. Research shows that in this part of the world, extreme weather events – including heatwaves and exceptional rainfall, as well as glacier melt – have become more frequent.

“We were stuck on the bus for eight hours. No one had any news until the first reports and videos began to circulate.” This is the account given to Tg1 by Giovanni Fassini and Marco Lombardi, two Italians who were stranded on a bus heading for Kathmandu airport whilst floods were sweeping through Nepal.

According to the news programme, the two were finishing up a hiking holiday and were due to catch a flight to Milan. “The bus stopped because the road was blocked, and at first we didn’t understand why. Eventually we realised that the river beside us was rising, rising and rising. Fortunately, it didn’t reach our vehicle”, they said.

For hours, the two Italians were left in the dark as to what was happening around them, with no way of either carrying on or turning back.

“We couldn’t go further upstream because the road had been closed by the authorities, whilst behind us the river had also burst its banks,” they explained. In the end, they managed to get to safety: “We were lucky; thank goodness we’re here to tell the tale.”

“We had two groups, each comprising around ten people, who passed through the affected area on Monday without incident. One is on its way back to Italia, whilst the other is still in Nepal. We spoke to them today and there are no problems.”

Paolo Nugari, co-founder of Avventure nel Mondo, spoke to LaPresse about the flooding that hit the area of Nepal on the border with Tibet. “In total,” he adds, “around 10–11 of our groups have travelled through that area over the course of the season.” Around 1,500 people rely on Avventure nel Mondo for trips to Nepal every year.

It was not torrential rain, but an earthquake high in the mountains that caused the flash flood which swept through numerous villages over a distance of up to 50 km. This is the view of Tommaso Torrigiani, a climatologist at the Lamma-CNR Consortium, speaking to ANSA. “Flash floods,” he emphasises, “generally affect smaller watercourses and can be dangerous because they are unexpected. They often affect areas where not a single drop of rain has fallen: in this case, it was a 4.4-magnitude earthquake that triggered it”.

According to the expert, the mass of debris and mud that formed “initially swept through the settlements along the Bhote-Koshi river, reaching as far as the villages situated at an altitude of 500 metres”.

In short, Torrigiani continues, “the landslide triggered by the earthquake on the border between Nepal and China, in the mountains of Tibet, poured into the watercourse and caused mudflows mixed with debris that swept away bridges and flooded villages, which became increasingly densely populated as they descended. Essentially, a natural dam was created, which then gave way”.

According to Torrigiani, “flash floods could theoretically occur in Italia too, particularly in mountainous areas: unlike the flooding seen, for example, on the Arno or the Po, these could occur suddenly and in extremely localised areas, affecting smaller watercourses”.

According to Torrigiani, what happened is not linked to climate change, “which is, however, certainly linked to flooding caused by torrential rain”. Regarding the event, as reported by Marina Baldi, another climatologist at the CNR, “the climatologists most experienced in this field – namely those at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) – have not yet issued any official statement.”