55 Ukrainians missing after catastrophic Nepal-Tibet floods as death toll passes 170

At least 55 Ukrainian citizens are among more than 1,100 people missing after a massive flash flood swept through large areas of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, triggered by what authorities suspect was a glacial lake outburst upstream in Tibet.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the figure on Thursday morning, stating that the missing Ukrainians belong to two tourist groups — one of 47 people and another of seven — plus a single Ukrainian who was travelling with a foreign tour group. As of the latest update, no Ukrainian citizens have been confirmed among the dead or injured, the ministry said (Ukrainska Pravda).

Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing but hampered by difficult weather and terrain. Local authorities have warned of further flooding and landslides, raising fears that the final toll could rise significantly.

The disaster unfolded on Wednesday when a wall of water came down the Trishuli River, known as the Bhotekoshi in its upper reaches. In the Nepalese town of Bidur, students at Trishuli Secondary School were forced to flee as water surged through the valley. Gyan Deep Sapkota, a grade 11 student, told Al Jazeera that teachers shouted for pupils to evacuate. “Some of us took a small old bridge and crossed to a safer area, while most of the students took up to the hills. Some of the students also had panic attacks and fainted,” he said (Al Jazeera).

Nepal Police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said late Wednesday that 95 bodies had been recovered. By Thursday, the overall death toll in Nepal had climbed to at least 177, with 823 people missing, according to Nepalese police cited by the NL Times. In Tibet, Chinese authorities reported at least three dead and 558 missing, including 260 foreign nationals (NL Times).

The scale of the missing is staggering: more than 700 tourists from nearly 30 countries are unaccounted for, alongside more than 400 local residents. The largest group of missing foreign nationals is from India — 178 people — many of whom were heading to Tibet for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a major Hindu pilgrimage. Dozens of people from the United States, Malaysia, Australia and European countries including Belgium (3), Germany (8) and the Netherlands (at least 2) are also on the list published by Nepal’s tourism authorities.

Ukraine’s embassies in India and China have issued safety advisories and are in constant contact with Nepalese authorities, search teams, relatives of the missing and foreign diplomats to coordinate the search effort. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has provided full information on all Ukrainians with whom contact has not yet been established.

Healthcare worker Rajendra Poudel, a resident of the affected town of Betrawati in Nuwakot district, described the scene to Al Jazeera as apocalyptic. “Till early this morning it was very scenic around here. There were houses a… everything has been swept away,” he said.

The disaster is believed to have been caused by a glacial lake outburst flood — a phenomenon linked to rising global temperatures that is becoming more common in the Himalayan region. The floodwaters swept away entire settlements and even dams, according to local officials.

For the 55 Ukrainian families waiting for news, the uncertainty is agonising. Ukraine’s diplomats are doing what they can, but with communications down in many areas and weather still severe, a full picture may take days to emerge.