At least 72 people were dead and hundreds of others – many of them foreign tourists – were missing on Wednesday night, hours after massive flash floods and landslides engulfed a border area between China and Nepal.Chinese state media reported that the disaster struck Nepal at around 9am, spilling over into Gyirong county in the Tibet autonomous region, causing “major casualties and missing persons” at a border checkpoint in the county, which is administered by the city of Shigatse.Footage circulating online showed a landslide descending on the Gyirong Port checkpoint in seconds as people on the ground fled, before mud and debris obscured the camera. The South China Morning Post could not independently verify the video.Gyirong Port is Tibet’s main foreign trade port and handles the vast majority of China’s trade with Nepal.Major casualties as landslide sweeps through China-Nepal borderIn Nepal, 384 tourists and travellers were missing – 93 Nepalese and 291 foreigners, according to the Nepal Tourism Board.
‘Massive casualties’ after flash floods, landslide strike China-Nepal border
An unknown number of people are also missing as rescuers search the rubble of a border checkpoint in Tibet’s Gyirong county.
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