Latest news with #Bhotekoshi
Al Arabiya
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Arabiya
Rescuers Search for 19 Missing and Recover 9 Bodies After Flooding in Nepal
Dozens of rescuers searched the banks of a mountain river Wednesday looking for people missing after monsoon floods swept away Nepal's main bridge connecting the country to China and caused at least nine deaths. Police said dozens of rescuers were already at the area and more are expected to join the rescue efforts. Nine bodies have been recovered from the river. Security forces have rescued 55 people, including four Indians and a Chinese person, so far, according to the Rasuwa District Administration Office. Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, along with top ministers and officials, flew to the area. Oli called an emergency meeting Tuesday night and instructed all security forces and government offices to assist the rescue and recovery efforts. The flooding on the Bhotekoshi River early Tuesday destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Kathmandu. Several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections also were swept away. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China had been parked at the border point. The 19 missing are 13 Nepali citizens and six Chinese nationals, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The Chinese and eight of the Nepalis were workers at a Chinese-assisted construction project on the Nepali side of the border, according to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, quoted by state media. The destruction of the bridge has halted all trade from China to Nepal through this route. The longer alternative is for goods to be shipped from China to India and then brought overland to Nepal. Monsoon rains that begin in June and end in September often cause severe flooding in Nepal, disrupting infrastructure and endangering lives.
CNA
08-07-2025
- Climate
- CNA
One dead, 17 missing as Nepal flood destroys China border bridge
KATHMANDU: Floods triggered by torrential rains in Nepal on Tuesday (Jul 8) tore down a Himalayan mountain valley, sweeping away 18 people and destroying a key border bridge with China, a government official said. One person has been confirmed dead and 17 others are listed as missing in the floods on the Bhotekoshi River, said Arjun Paudel, chief district officer of Rasuwa district. The flooding destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120km north of the capital, Kathmandu, in the early hours of Tuesday. It also swept away several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China were also parked at the border point. Eleven Nepalis and six Chinese people are among the missing, Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said. Police said 95 rescuers were already in the area and more are expected to join in rescue efforts. An army helicopter was used to lift people stranded by the flooding Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is making them worse. The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable. The Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) warned in June that communities face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season.
