Death toll from Nepal Himalayan floods rises to 95 as search continues for 403 missing

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Severe flooding in Nepal's northeastern Himalayan region has killed at least 95 people, with 403 others still missing, according to Nepal Police data cited by officials on Wednesday. Of those missing, 61 are Nepali citizens and 341 are foreign nationals; 200 are recorded as women and 203 as men. Authorities said search operations are ongoing and that casualty figures are being verified, particularly in the hardest-hit Rasuwa district. Infrastructure Minister Sunil Lamsal estimated the damage at around 200 billion Nepalese rupees, or roughly $1.3 billion, with roads and bridges suffering heavy destruction. Earlier reports indicated that 60 workers had gone missing at the construction site of the 20-megawatt Langtang Khola hydroelectric power plant. The flooding occurred early Wednesday morning when a large volume of water originating from China flowed into the Poti-Koshi River, causing widespread destruction in Rasuwa and prompting the highest alert for settlements along the riverbank. Climate experts at ICIMOD in Kathmandu said the floods were not caused by typical monsoon rains, but by a glacial collapse triggered by an earthquake in the region. The collapse dumped rock and snow that temporarily dammed the Linde Khola stream, and when that natural dam broke, a wave of mud and debris swept across border areas in under a minute. No further details on the search operation were immediately available.