Eight dead, 31 missing in floods on China-Nepal border
People observe the damage caused by flooding on the Bhotekoshi River 120km north of Kathmandu on Jul 8, 2025. (Photo: AP/Nepal Army)
KATHMANDU: Floods triggered by torrential rains tore down a Himalayan mountain valley between China and Nepal on Tuesday (Jul 8), with at least eight killed and 31 missing, officials and state media said.
The wall of water also swept away one of the main bridges linking Nepal and China over the Bhotekoshi river, which is 120km north of the capital, Kathmandu, in the early hours of Tuesday.
It also swept away several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China were also parked at the border point.
Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is making them worse.
"Our focus is on search and rescue efforts. We have rescued 57 people so far," Nepal police spokesperson Binod Ghimire told AFP.
China's state television CCTV reported that a "mudslide disaster" hit the border area around dawn on Tuesday, with 11 people missing on the Chinese side.
It said that those were in addition to six Chinese construction workers swept away on the Nepal side.
Police said 95 rescuers were already in the area and more are expected to join in rescue efforts. An army helicopter was used to lift people stranded by the flooding.
Increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable, the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization said last year.
And the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) warned in June that communities face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season.
"Rising temperatures and more extreme rain raise the risk of water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and debris flows," ICIMOD said.
