By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Rescuers on Thursday battled through thick mud, landslide debris and rugged Himalayan terrain as they searched for hundreds of people still missing after catastrophic flash floods in Bhote Koshi river swept across Nepal’s border region with Tibet, with the death toll nearing 170.
The disaster struck on Wednesday after a massive collapse of ice and rock in the Himalayas triggered a sudden surge of water, mud and boulders through valleys along the Nepal-China border. Entire settlements were inundated, while roads, bridges, vehicles and power infrastructure were swept away within minutes.
Nepal’s disaster authorities said at least 165 people had been killed in the country, while three deaths were reported on the Tibet side, taking the overall confirmed toll to 168. The toll was expected to rise as rescue teams reached areas that remained inaccessible because of destroyed roads and continuing landslides.
The scale of the missing-person crisis remained unclear, with figures changing as authorities received fresh reports. Nepal has reported hundreds of people unaccounted for, while Chinese authorities have reported hundreds more missing in Tibet. Taken together, over 1300 people were reported missing on both sides of the border in some official updates.
The disaster has also raised alarm in India because a large number of Indian pilgrims and tourists were travelling through the affected region, particularly those heading towards the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route. Latest reports put the number of missing Indian nationals at 179, although figures have varied as authorities continue to verify names and locations.
Helicopters were deployed to reach isolated communities, evacuate survivors and drop emergency supplies. Soldiers, police personnel and civilian rescuers were forced to negotiate unstable slopes, damaged roads and deep layers of mud while searching homes and vehicles buried by the torrent. At least 125 people, including 20 foreigners, were rescued during Thursday’s operations, according to Nepalese media reports.
The floods devastated key stretches of the road linking Kathmandu with Lhasa, a route heavily used by tourists, trekkers and pilgrims. In Nepal alone, at least 19 bridges and around 40 kilometres of roads were reported washed away.
Authorities have warned that rescue operations remain dangerous because of unstable terrain and the possibility of further flooding. The disaster has also renewed concerns over the growing vulnerability of the Himalayan region to glacial collapses, landslides and extreme weather events.
As rescue teams continued their painstaking search on Thursday, families waited anxiously for news of loved ones, while authorities on both sides of the border worked to establish the true scale of one of the region’s deadliest recent disasters.