Chinese officials: Nepal glacier collapse triggered flash floods

Chinese officials: Nepal glacier collapse triggered flash floods

Local authorities in China's Tibet Autonomous Region reportedly say a glacier collapse caused the flash floods that struck areas along the Nepal-China border.

Chinese state-run media said officials from the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region held a news conference on Sunday.

They told reporters that 16 people had been confirmed dead and 546 others were missing as of 6 p.m. on Saturday. They said 261 of the missing are foreign nationals from 23 countries, including Nepal, India, Latvia, the United States and Britain.

More than 2,100 military, police and other personnel have been mobilized on the Chinese side for search-and-rescue operations in an area covering 90,000 square meters.

The officials said an analysis of observation data and other information indicates the disaster was caused by the collapse of a glacier in Nepal that occurred on Wednesday at around 10:52 a.m., Beijing time, at an altitude of about 5,200 meters.

They said the collapse triggered an avalanche of ice and rock that rapidly descended to an altitude of 4,000 meters. They said it became a debris flow as it scoured the mountainside before reaching a border crossing between China and Nepal.

The officials also said the avalanche only took about six to seven minutes to hit the crossing and flatten the area, including 27 buildings and related facilities. They added that the collapse was triggered by glacier instability driven by global warming.