China Says 261 Foreigners From 23 Countries Are Missing in Tibet Flood
The disclosure offered one of the clearest pictures yet of the disaster on the Chinese side of the border, where authorities have released few details.
More than 260 foreign nationals from 23 countries are among the hundreds of people missing in Tibet after last week’s devastating flood, Chinese authorities said on Sunday, offering their most detailed accounting yet of those caught in the disaster on their side of the border.
The largest groups of missing foreigners were 104 Nepalis, 49 Indians, 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 British citizens, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency. In total, 546 people remained missing.
The death toll in the Tibet region of China has reached 16 people, the agency said, citing a news conference by the regional government.
In Nepal, 734 people had been confirmed dead as of Sunday morning, and nearly 2,500 remained missing, according to the country’s disaster relief authorities.
Tibet, which Beijing annexed in the 1950s and has been the site of protests and self-immolations by Tibetans calling for more autonomy, is one of the most tightly controlled parts of China. Since the flooding struck along the border between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, China has released few details about those affected on its side. Chinese social media platforms have censored much of the content not published by state news outlets, including photographs and videos of the disaster posted by bystanders and hikers.
Chinese authorities often tightly control information after major disasters, seeking to manage public opinion and prevent discussion from turning into anger or criticism of the government.
Officials on Sunday presented their most detailed timeline yet of how the disaster unfolded. Remote-sensing data and field analysis indicated that a glacier on Langtang Lirung, a peak in Nepal, broke off at an elevation of 17,000 feet at about 10 a.m. local time, according to Su Pengcheng, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment.
The ice fell about 4,000 feet, eroding the mountainside and forming what Dr. Su described as a “massive landslide.” The debris traveled at high speed for about 13 miles before striking Gyirong Port, a border crossing between Nepal and China. Dr. Su said the disaster affected 172 acres and destroyed 27 buildings at the crossing.
Chinese rescue workers arrived at the leveled border crossing on Friday afternoon, more than 50 hours after the landslide struck. Destroyed roads, rainfall and the threat of further flooding have made the site difficult to reach.
China’s Embassy in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, said on Sunday that China had dispatched helicopters and rescued 94 Chinese nationals.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, pledged on Friday to help Nepal with rescue efforts. The Chinese Embassy said in a Facebook post that China had sent five tunnel experts to a damaged hydropower station in Nepal and would soon send four more.
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Mujib Mashal contributed reporting.
Lily Kuo is a China correspondent for The Times, based in Taipei.
Pei-Lin Wu is a reporter and researcher covering Taiwan and China for The Times.