Two young boys are among at least 34 Australians missing in Nepal after a terrifying flash flood engulfed villages following a catastrophic landslide.
The Australians are among hundreds feared missing after massive floodwaters triggered by an ice avalanche tore through the popular Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday morning (local time).
The office of Nepal’s Prime Minister has confirmed at least 160 people have died, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continue.
Of the 579 people unaccounted for, 466 are foreign nationals from 28 different countries.
US-based tour group Himalayan Glacier Adventures confirmed 15 Australians, who were on a 14-day Kailash tour from Kathmandu to Mount Kailash, are unaccounted for.
These include two boys aged 11 and 14, with nine males and six women missing in total. The eldest is a 64-year-old woman.
‘We have 15 Australians going on the Kailash tour with HG and all of them are currently unaccounted for,’ the spokesman said.
‘Our office team lost contact with the trip leaders around 8.30am yesterday local time. Since then we have not heard from them or any of the guests yet.
A terrifying video showed the moment a wave surged across the bank of the Bhote Koshi River in a terrifying flash flood that has claimed the lives of dozens near the Nepal-Tibet border
Entire buildings became submerged by huge walls of water and mud
People were seen desperately running for their lives through fields
‘Our CEO with a small team flew there, right after they were notified, to assess and aid but there were not permitted to land due to the ground situation.’
Another Australian missing was travelling with Kathmandu Holiday Tours & Travel, the Nepal Tourist Board has confirmed.
A landslide struck the region on Wednesday morning, triggering the collapse of a colossal section of glacier and sending a devastating torrent of water, ice and debris into the valley below.
Terrifying footage showed a massive wave surging over the banks of the Bhote Koshi River and engulfing homes within seconds.
As the torrent surged around a bend in the river, huge clouds of mist and spray rose above the settlement.
The floodwaters quickly covered a main road through the small town before surging across a field on the other side, where dozens of people were desperately trying to escape.
They ran for their lives through the fields as the wall of water and mud bulldozed its way through buildings.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials are now urgently working to verify the official number of missing Australians.
Footage shows people running away as a wall of mud and water destroys buildings in a valley at Nepal-China border, in Gyirong, Tibet region
Several people have been killed by the flash floods, with many more casualties expected to be reported. Of the missing tourists, 466 are foreign nationals from 28 countries
‘We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the significant flooding in Nepal and Tibet, China,’ a DFAT spokeswoman told the Daily Mail on Thursday.
‘Australians in the affected area should follow the advice of local authorities.
‘We are aware of a number of Australians in the area and Australian officials are urgently working to confirm their welfare.
‘We are liaising with local authorities as well as tour operators.’
Foreign Minister Penny Wong added: ‘The loss of life and destruction caused by flash flooding in Nepal and China is devastating.
‘Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those killed or missing and all affected by this disaster.
‘DFAT officials are urgently working to confirm the welfare of Australians in the area.’
Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).
Scientists initially believed an earthquake triggered the ice avalanche, but the seismic reading was later clarified as having been caused by a landslide.
Dr Daniel Shugar, an earth scientist and professor at the University of Calgary, said the disturbance caused a 2,000ft-wide chunk of ice to break off and fall more than a kilometre to the valley floor.
‘The bottom looks like a bomb exploded – it’s just deposits from the broken-up glacier,’ he told The New York Times.
But the ice fall alone doesn’t explain the ‘gargantuan volumes of water that we see in these absolutely horrific videos’, he said.
It is believed the glacier mixed with a landslide to create a rapidly moving mixture of water, ice and rock.
Nepali labourer Bibek Kumal was digging a toilet pit outside a new house when a wall of water, mud and rock came roaring down, sweeping him and everything near him away.
Mr Kumal, 24, was downstream from the worst-hit Rasuwa district, near the Tibet border, when he heard a hissing sound.
His four co-workers, standing above the five-foot pit, shouted at him to get out and run, and had already fled by the time he scrambled out.
Houses lie partially submerged in muddy water along a riverside after flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district
Scientists initially believed an earthquake triggered the ice avalanche, but the seismic reading was later clarified to have been caused by a landslide
‘I started running. Then a wall of water came thundering down as if it was an earthquake,’ Mr Kumal said from his bed at Kathmandu’s National Trauma Centre.
The torrent swept him downstream amid mud and debris, but he ‘luckily was stuck up in a mango tree’.
‘Had there been no mango tree, I would have been washed away to death,’ he said.
Keshav Prasad Baral, 68, who was being treated at a local hospital, said: ‘It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us. As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher.
‘When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.
‘Four or five hours later, a helicopter came to rescue me. My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She’s gone.’
A pilot told CNN he saw the flood from the air and witnessed waves that were up to 20ft tall.
Aman Budathoki said: ‘About five minutes before landing, we could see dust rising from the river.
‘At first instance it looked as if it was a landslide. We even guessed if it was the army using explosives for building roads.’
Rescuers use construction vehicles to carry a victim of the flood to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal’s Nuwakot district
A combination of satellite images shows the valleys near the Nepal-China border on August 25, 2026, before the devastating floods (top), and on August 26, 2026, after the disaster (bottom)
The Nepal Army said 14 helicopters and disaster response teams have been deployed for rescue and relief.
But officials said the waters were too high for helicopters to land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000.
Nepal’s rescue helicopters would be unable to land in the affected areas until the waters recede, however, army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said.
Researchers at the Kathmandu research group found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000 primarily due to rising global temperatures and climate change.
