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Meredith Chen

China warned on Monday there was a “major risk” of further glacier collapses and landslides along the border with Nepal as the death toll from last week’s deadly mudslide rose to close to 1,000.
The Ministry of Water Resources said there was an ongoing threat along the Cuojian River in Nepal, a waterway that flows into the Purepuqiang River in Tibet, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Downstream in Tibet there was also a risk that further landslides would cause a new barrier lake to form, the ministry added.
The death toll in Nepal has risen to 903, with 4,247 people still missing, according to data released by the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority on Monday.
Chinese authorities said on Sunday that the death toll on their side of the border had risen to 16, with 546 people still missing.
The death toll after Wednesday’s massive surge of ice, floodwater and rocks is expected to rise in the coming days as search and rescue operations continue.
Worsening weather and persistent and heavy rain could further complicate rescue operations and disrupt transport, with state media urging heightened vigilance against secondary hazards.
On Monday, the China Meteorological Administration warned of more rain in Gyirong county, Tibet autonomous region, over the next three days, warning it could complicate rescue operations and transport, and urged rescuers to stay on high alert.
The rain could make roads slippery along the Shigatse-Gyirong and Gyirong-Gyirong Port routes, said Zhang Taiyuan, a weather presenter with the administration, who urged rescue and relief vehicles to take extra care.




More than 60 rescuers trekked for more than 10 hours through mountainous terrain to reach the core area on Sunday. They have searched an area of about 40,000 square metres (430,560 sq ft) twice, according to CCTV.
High-water marks on the mountainside opposite Gyirong Port show that floodwaters had reached more than 60 metres (197 feet) – roughly the height of a 20-storey building – at their peak, rescuers estimated, according to CCTV.
Yao Xueqin, deputy head of a fire and rescue unit deployed to the disaster area, said teams would continue searching. He said initial searches had focused on surface debris, and they would dig deeper in later operations.
People on both sides of the border have posted on social media asking for tips on finding missing relatives and friends who were near the Gyirong Port border crossing when the disaster struck.
Of those missing, 261 were foreign nationals, state news agency Xinhua reported, including 104 from Nepal, 49 from India, 33 from Latvia and 18 from the United States.
The deadly disaster was triggered by a glacier collapse at Langtang Lirung on the Nepalese side of the border at an altitude of about 5,200 metres.
Some buildings were buried, and power, communications and road access were cut off following the mudslide.
Efforts to reopen the damaged section of a national highway leading to Gyirong Port have been stepped up. The road was cut off by the mudslides, severely hampering rescue operations.
As of 4pm on Monday, crews had cleared and reopened hundreds of metres of road, leaving about 1.1km (0.7 miles) to go before reaching Gyirong Port.
“The most challenging section of the road-reopening effort has entered its final push,” CCTV reported.
An emergency communications base station near the Gyirong Port border gate was put into operation on Sunday, CCTV reported. Communications repair workers were able to speak with rescuers at the port through the station.


The disaster has focused attention on the challenges of monitoring and providing early warnings for high-altitude glacial hazards in the remote Himalayan border region.
The mudslide created by the glacier collapse travelled 22km along the valley and reached Gyirong Port border crossing in just seven minutes.
Scientists told the Chinese media platform Shangguan News they could draw on years of satellite imagery to map glaciers and glacial lakes, but small or sudden changes could be hard to capture in real time.
Ground monitoring could help fill the gap, but remote areas often lacked reliable communications, making real-time transmission and monitoring difficult, they added.
China has also developed online monitoring and early-warning systems for some high-risk glacial lakes, but scientists have warned that the effectiveness of such systems depends on who receives and assesses the data.
Much also depends on who decides whether to issue a warning and how quickly people at risk receive such information as some hazards can appear within minutes, leaving little time to get people to safety.
The challenge became even greater across an international border, the report added.

China had been sharing important information with Nepal, including disaster-area imagery, satellite and hydrological data, as well as early warnings on the upstream barrier lake, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
The disaster struck on Wednesday as an annual disaster risk reduction conference organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development was being hosted in Chengdu, in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
Local media reported that the topics discussed at the event included cross-border disaster information-sharing and setting up regular coordination mechanisms between China, Nepal and other Himalayan countries.


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Firefighters and sniffer dogs conduct a search for missing people along a road leading towards Gyirong Port following a mudslide in Shigatse prefecture, Tibet autonomous region, China on August 30, 2026. Photo: via Reuters

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The disaster has cut off roads leading to the port, as well as communications and power supplies, according to the Gyirong county emergency management bureau. Photo: Xinhua

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A composite of satellite images showing the scale of the disaster at Gyirong Port. The image on the left was taken on Wednesday while the one on the right is the same location in January. Photo: Xinhua

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Rescue teams continues their efforts to reach the Gyirong Port border crossing as bad weather is forecast over the coming days


Rescue teams continues their efforts to reach the Gyirong Port border crossing as bad weather is forecast over the coming days.


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China warns of ‘major risk’ of glacier collapse as landslide death toll nears 1,000

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rescue teams continues their efforts to reach the Gyirong Port border crossing as bad weather is forecast over the coming days

Rescue teams continues their efforts to reach the Gyirong Port border crossing as bad weather is forecast over the coming days