At least four Spanish nationals are among around 1,500 people reported missing after devastating flash floods swept through areas of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, leaving at least 270 people dead and thousands stranded.
Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, confirmed that at least four Spaniards remain unaccounted for, although there is currently no information suggesting that any Spanish nationals are among the dead.
The disaster struck the mountainous border region between northern Nepal and Chinese-controlled Tibet, sending a torrent of water, rocks and mud through settlements and destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
According to the latest figures, 270 people have died, 33 have been injured and around 1,500 remain missing. Many of those unaccounted for are pilgrims and tourists, including hundreds of foreign nationals.
Nepalese authorities say 579 travellers are missing on the Nepalese side of the border, including 466 foreigners and 113 Nepalese citizens.
Nepal Police said rescue teams have so far recovered 177 bodies, while 33 injured people are being treated in hospital. Around 3,300 officers have been deployed to areas affected by the dramatic rise of the Bhotekoshi river in Rasuwa, a mountainous district close to Tibet and Nepal’s border with China.
Rescue operations are continuing as authorities search for survivors and attempt to reach communities cut off by the floods.
Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the government had intensified the search for missing people and the distribution of humanitarian aid ‘from first thing in the morning’.
Helicopters are being used to carry out rescues and deliver emergency supplies to thousands of people stranded in isolated villages.
‘To help citizens at risk, the Nepalese Army last night delivered humanitarian aid supplies, including basic foodstuffs, tents and medicines,’ Shah said.
Hundreds of foreign tourists and pilgrims missing
The region hit by the disaster lies on an important route linking the Tibetan city of Lhasa with Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. It is heavily used by international mountaineers as well as Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims, particularly those travelling from India to the sacred sites of Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar.
Among the 579 travellers reported missing in Nepal are 466 foreigners, according to tourism and police officials. A significant number are believed to have been making pilgrimages to Mount Kailash and have been unable to contact relatives or authorities because communications have been disrupted by the flooding.
In Tibet, at least 558 people are reported missing in the Gyirong district, including 260 foreigners, according to Chinese television. Chinese authorities have so far confirmed three deaths in the region.
Footage of the disaster shows an enormous surge of water, rocks and mud sweeping away dozens of people at the Gyirong border crossing before continuing downstream along Nepal’s Trishuli river, destroying buildings, bridges and roads.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said efforts are underway to evacuate foreign nationals by air to Kathmandu.
Rescue teams are also attempting to reach a group of 21 Indian tourists who have been located in Timure, as well as workers at the Haku hydroelectric power station, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
The scale of the damage is making the rescue operation particularly difficult. In Nepal alone, the floods have destroyed or damaged 35 road bridges, 45 suspension bridges and around 40 kilometres of paved roads.
China has also mobilised its armed forces, with two helicopters reaching the area around the Gyirong border crossing. Rescue teams were unable to reach the area by land on Wednesday because roads had been destroyed, communications and electricity supplies had been cut, and continuing rain increased the danger of further landslides.
Around 369 residents living within a 14-kilometre radius of the Gyirong crossing have been evacuated. Chinese authorities have also warned of a potential threat from Gyirong Lake, which lies upstream.
The United Nations is preparing to send personnel and emergency supplies, while countries including the United States, Australia and Canada are also attempting to locate missing citizens and have pledged assistance.
The Dalai Lama expressed his condolences following the disaster and said he hoped measures would be taken to ‘prevent such disasters from recurring’.
Four Spaniards remain unaccounted for
Albares said in a statement to the media that at least four Spanish nationals have not yet been located, but stressed that there are currently no confirmed Spanish fatalities.
He urged relatives and friends of Spanish citizens who are in, or have recently travelled through, the affected area to contact the Foreign Ministry’s emergency telephone services, including its Consular Emergency Unit and central services in Madrid.
The minister said Spain’s honorary consulate in Nepal, the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulate General in Beijing ‘are fully mobilised’.
Himalayan glacier collapse investigated as possible cause
Investigators have yet to establish exactly what triggered the catastrophic surge of water, mud and debris.
Scientists believe that a major movement of ice at a Himalayan glacier near the source of the Lende Khola, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi river, could have been responsible.
An initial examination of satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs appears to show a slide involving ice and rock approximately 20 kilometres northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and Tibet.
The Lende Khola flows south before joining the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi rivers, both of which are fed by water from the Himalayas. The flood then followed the river system southwestwards.
Experts have so far ruled out an earthquake as the original cause of the disaster. Seismic vibrations recorded in the area are instead believed to have been generated by the immense force of the flood itself and the movement of the material it carried downstream.
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Footage shows the moment a bridge in Nukawot, Nepal, is washed away after a fatal flash flood and mudslide on the Nepal-Tibet border.
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 26, 2026
More than 150 people have been killed and hundreds more are missing. Live updates: https://t.co/WTPv8qfb4k pic.twitter.com/yrCSxy7psW
⚠️AVISO CONSULAR
— Emb. de España en India / Spanish Embassy in India (@EmbEspIndia) August 27, 2026
Tras riada en #Nepal, se recuerda a todos los españoles que en caso de necesidad pueden dirigirse a los tfnos de emergencia consular.
Delhi:+ 91 9810174160
Consulado Honorario en🇳🇵:+977 1 4579488/4570770
WhatsApp:+977 9851400269
Sigan indicaciones de autoridades.
Consternado por la terrible tragedia en Nepal. Mi solidaridad con las víctimas y sus familias.
— José Manuel Albares (@jmalbares) August 26, 2026
La @EmbEspIndia, nuestro consulado honorario y la unidad de emergencia @MAECgob están movilizados para ayudar a los españoles en el país. pic.twitter.com/FIOmvph7lq
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