1,137 Missing in Nepal-China Floods, Including 726 Foreigners...Pilgrims and Tourists Caught in Tragedy

[Financial News] Floods and landslides in the border region between Nepal and China have left at least 1,137 people missing. About 726 of them were foreigners.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on the 27th, at least 579 people were missing in Nepal as of the previous day, including 466 foreigners. The missing foreigners were said to be from 28 countries.
Sunil Sharma, a spokesperson for the Nepal Tourism Board, said 133 of the missing foreigners were Indian nationals. They were on a pilgrimage route to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a Hindu holy site. The list also included 54 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 British nationals, 24 Canadians, and five Japanese. Amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, 46 Ukrainian package tourists were also among the missing. The Russian Embassy said four Russians were missing in the area. Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said its embassy had received reports from travel agencies that contact had been lost with 11 Malaysians believed to be in the Rasuwa District.
In South Korea, nine employees from Korea South-East Power and Doosan Enerbility who were at a hydropower plant construction site have lost contact.
Earlier, around 8:37 a.m. on the 26th, massive flooding hit parts of Bagmati Province in north-central Nepal near the border with China. The disaster killed 157 people in Nepal and 3 in China. The floods also triggered large-scale landslides on the Chinese side.
According to Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV) on the 27th, 558 people were missing as of 8 a.m. that day after a landslide in Jilong County, Xigaze, Tibet Autonomous Region, the previous day. Of the missing, 260 were identified as foreigners.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) described the disaster as "a devastating flood in the high Himalayas that swept through villages popular with Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims."
Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims gather in small villages such as Shapur Besi and Timure, located where the Trishuli River and the Rende River meet. These are among the hardest-hit areas in the flooding.
The villages are also key gateways to the Langtang Valley, a world-famous trekking destination in Nepal, and the Tamang Heritage Trail to the west of the valley. CNN noted that Mount Kailash is sacred not only in Hinduism but also in Buddhism and Jainism, and that hundreds of pilgrims gather around the mountain in summer. It added that the flood struck a route where pilgrims had gathered.

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