Glacial Avalanche Captured on Camera... Where It All Began

[Anchor]

The dramatic moment of a glacial collapse that triggered massive floods in Nepal has been captured on camera. Scientists believe that bedrock collapsed in the high-altitude region of the Himalayas, cascading down along with the glacier.

Reporter Jeon Hyeong-u has the details.

[Reporter]

This footage was filmed on the 26th around Mount Langtang Lirung, which stands at over 7,200 meters above sea level toward the Tibet region of China.

Yellow dust first rises from the mountainside below the sharp peak, followed shortly by earth and sand rushing down amid a cloud of black dust.

Moments later, the glacier that remained on the mountainside also collapses.

The Chinese photographer who captured the scene stated that they started filming after suddenly hearing a loud noise from the mountain. This matches the analysis of University of Calgary scientists, who stated, "It appears that a massive bedrock collapse at an elevation of about 5,200 meters caused the glacier to break off and flow down into the valley."

Satellite imagery also clearly captured the traces of the collapse.

In a photo taken on the 24th, before the collapse, the ridge beneath the snow-covered Langtang Lirung peak is clearly visible, but in the photo from the 26th when the landslide occurred, a part of the ridge was sheared off as if erased by an eraser.

The area where the bedrock collapsed is estimated to be about 1 square kilometer in size.

[Matthieu Vuilleumier / Distinguished Professor, University at Albany : There are already loosened rocks or unstable glaciers on top of the mountain, and something triggers them.]

Due to the bedrock collapse, glaciers and rocks became mixed together. As they traveled down the steep V-shaped gorge, the glacier melted into a debris flow, sweeping downstream at speeds reaching up to 70 kilometers per hour.

[Xu Chang / President, Chengdu University of Technology : This event can be classified as initially starting as a glacial-rock avalanche and then developing into a debris flow.]

Experts analyzed that the permafrost, which had long supported the rocks and glaciers, became destabilized due to climate change, ultimately causing this landslide and catastrophic flood.

(Video Editing: Park Choon-bae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.