Dozens missing after glacial flood destroys Nepal-China bridge

At least 29 people are missing after a glacial flood destroyed the “Friendship Bridge” linking Nepal and China, disrupting trade and prompting cross-border rescue efforts.

Nepali and Chinese authorities said the Bhote Koshi River burst its banks on Tuesday following torrential rain in Tibet, sweeping away infrastructure and triggering emergency operations. Experts believe the flood may have been caused by a glacial lake outburst, as there was no heavy rainfall in Nepal’s immediate catchment area.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 18 people are missing on its side of the border, including six Chinese workers and three police officers. In China, state news agency Xinhua reported 11 people unaccounted for in the Tibet region.

The Chinese nationals had been working at an Inland Container Depot near Rasuwa, about 80km north of Kathmandu, senior district official Arjun Paudel told Reuters. Several containers, electric cars and a small hydroelectric plant were washed away.

“The river also swept away some containers with goods imported from China... There is a big loss of property and we are collecting details,” Paudel said.

The Nepali army has rescued 11 people so far and continues search and rescue operations, spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said.

The flood has disrupted trade through the destroyed Friendship Bridge, a key link between the two countries. China has invested heavily in Nepal in recent years, including infrastructure projects in energy, health and transport.

Nepal's weather agency has sought satellite data from Sentinel Asia, a regional disaster monitoring network, to determine the cause and scale of the flooding.

Meanwhile, across the region, extreme weather has taken a toll. In Pakistan, at least 79 people have died in flood- and rain-related incidents since 26 June, with authorities warning of further risks from rising temperatures and a new weather system in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

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