▲ Nepal Floods
A massive flood struck south-central Nepal's mountainous Himalayan region, leaving 19 people dead and approximately 380 travelers missing, including about 290 foreigners.
Eight South Koreans have lost contact in the area, while another 10 South Koreans are stranded and awaiting rescue.
According to Reuters and AP, the massive flood occurred at around 9:00 a.m. local time on the 26th in the Bagmati Province region of north-central Nepal.
Nepal Police and the Department of Tourism stated that the disaster has killed 19 people and left 384 travelers missing, including 291 foreigners and 93 Nepalis.
They added that the missing foreigners include 105 Indian nationals.
Sunil Sharma, a spokesperson for the Nepal Tourism Board, explained that the missing foreign tourists hail from various countries, including India, Australia, the Netherlands, the United States, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that eight South Korean employees working for Korea South-East Power Co. and Doosan Enerbility, who were constructing a hydroelectric power plant, lost contact due to the floods in the Rasuwa district of Bagmati Province.
Another 10 South Koreans affiliated with Doosan Enerbility are also stranded locally awaiting rescue, and the Nepalese government has deployed helicopters to the accident site.
Rajendra Prasad Damala, a police spokesperson for Bagmati Province, told the EFE news agency, expressing concern that "the death toll is expected to rise further from the numbers confirmed so far."
The accident area is located about 120 kilometers north of the capital, Kathmandu, near the border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region in the Himalayas.
On this day, the Bhotekoshi River in the Rasuwa district overflowed its banks, inundating several nearby villages and damaging roads and hydroelectric facilities.
Sasmit Pokharel, a spokesperson for the Nepalese government, said, "We have requested cooperation on rescue operations from neighboring India and China."
The Rasuwa district, which suffered the worst damage this time, experienced a similar flash flood in August of last year.
At that time, high temperatures in the mountainous region caused a glacial lake in adjacent Tibet to overflow, killing nine people.
Major infrastructure, including bridges connecting the two countries, was also damaged.
Climate experts from the Kathmandu-headquartered International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) diagnosed that this flash flood was likely caused by an avalanche originating from a glacier.
An expert from ICIMOD explained that the Lende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River, recorded its maximum water level that day, stating, "The Lende Khola River has flooded for the second time in 1 year and 2 months."
The expert added, "The cause this time was a situation where ice and rocks originating from a glacier on the Nepalese side blocked the river, unleashing a sudden surge of water downstream."
The Himalayas, the primary water source for approximately 2 billion people in Asia, have seen the melting rate of their glaciers double or more in the 21st century due to global warming.
The thickness of glaciers in this region decreased by an annual average of 34 centimeters before 2000, but has decreased more than twice as fast, by 73 centimeters per year, since 2000.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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