Nepal flash floods kill at least 22, leave hundreds missing including American tourists

Flash floods along the Bhotekoshi River in Nepal killed 22 people and left hundreds missing, including 291 foreign tourists from countries like the U.S., India, and the U.K. The Nepali government has requested rescue assistance from India and China. Widespread damage to villages and infrastructure has been reported.

The flood struck mid-morning along the Bhotekoshi River, burying buildings and vehicles in mud across Nuwakot district. Many of the missing tourists were Indian pilgrims traveling toward Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred Hindu site. South Korean workers at a hydropower project and 11 Malaysians in Rasuwa district were also unaccounted for.

This disaster echoes August of the previous year, when a glacial lake overflow in Tibet caused similar flooding that killed nine people and damaged the Nepal-China border bridge. Climate specialists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development attribute Wednesday's event to an ice-rock avalanche from a Nepali glacier that temporarily dammed the Lhende Khola River, a Bhotekoshi tributary that has now flooded twice in fourteen months.