Chinese authorities said on Sunday that 261 foreign citizens were missing following last week’s deadly floods along the border between Tibet and Nepal, providing the first country-by-country breakdown of foreign nationals believed to be unaccounted for after the disaster.
Tibetan authorities said the missing foreigners came from 23 different countries. Nepalese nationals accounted for the largest group, with 104 people reported missing, followed by 49 citizens of India. The list also included 33 Latvians, 18 citizens of the United States and 15 from Britain.
Six citizens each from Canada and Australia were also reported missing, alongside four from South Africa. Malaysia, Germany and Russia each had three nationals among the missing. Ireland, Estonia, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand each had two, while Kazakhstan, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain and Hungary each had one citizen listed as missing.
The release of the figures offered the first detailed indication of the international scale of the disaster and its impact on people travelling or living in the affected border region. Beijing said it had notified the diplomatic missions of the countries whose citizens were affected.
China has so far confirmed 16 deaths following Wednesday’s glacier collapse, while 546 people remain missing. In Nepal, 675 deaths have been confirmed and 2,498 people are still missing, according to the figures provided by the authorities.
Local officials said no foreign survivors were stranded in the affected area. The statement came as authorities continued efforts to establish the whereabouts of those still missing and coordinate assistance for the countries whose nationals have been affected.
The disaster has also prompted closer cooperation between China and Nepal in the search and rescue response. Chinese tunnel rescue specialists arrived in Kathmandu to assist Nepal’s efforts, bringing emergency aid kits containing tents, blankets, sleeping bags, food and medical equipment.
Beijing also promised additional funding and further supplies following a phone conversation between the two countries’ foreign ministers on Saturday. The assistance came as Nepal continued its search and rescue operations amid the extensive damage caused by the disaster.
The catastrophe began on Wednesday morning when a glacier collapsed at Langtang Lirung on the Nepalese side of the border. The collapse sent enormous quantities of debris down the valley, with material dropping around 1,200 metres (4,000 feet).
Within minutes, the resulting high-speed wall of ice and mud swept across the valley, destroying everything in its path, including the Gyirong border crossing. The scale and speed of the surge left authorities facing a major rescue and identification operation across an area straddling the border.
For families seeking information about missing relatives, Beijing has established two 24-hour English-language hotlines. They are 0086-891-6817-165 and 0086-183-08026-705.
The publication of the foreign-national figures provides governments and families with a clearer picture of the international dimension of a disaster that has left thousands missing in China and Nepal.
