Floods sweep away 18 people and bridge linking Nepal to China
The flooding in the Bhotekoshi river destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, 120km north of the capital Kathmandu, in the early hours of Tuesday.
The flood also swept away several houses as well as trucks and electric cars parked near the border for customs inspection.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, those swept away included 12 Nepalis and six Chinese nationals.
China's official Xinhua news agency said 11 people also remained unaccounted for on the Chinese side of the mountainous border.
The missing Chinese nationals were working at the Inland Container Depot being built about 80km north of Kathmandu, Arjun Paudel, a senior administrative official in Rasuwa district, told Reuters. "The river also swept away some containers with goods imported from China,' he said.
Rescue efforts were underway as officials assessed the damage and searched for the missing people. An army helicopter was able to lift some people stranded by the flooding.
Police said 95 rescuers were already in the area and more were expected to join them.
The destruction of the bridge halted all trade between Nepal and China through this route. The longer alternative now is for goods to be shipped from China to India and transported overland to Nepal.
Weather forecasters said the flood could have been the result of an overflowing glacial lake in Tibet since there had been no heavy rainfall in the immediate catchment area of the river in the preceding 24 hours.
Nepal's weather forecasting department is working with Sentinel Asia, an international initiative that uses space-based technology to support disaster management in the Asia-Pacific region, to determine the cause of the flooding.
Monsoon rains from June to September often cause severe flooding in Nepal, damaging infrastructure and endangering lives.
Floods caused by monsoon rains have also wreaked havoc in India and Pakistan. At least 23 flash floods and 16 landslides caused by unusually heavy rainfall over the weekend left dozens of people missing and washed away hundreds of houses, bridges, roads and electricity pylons in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
In Pakistan, at least 79 people have died in floods, landslides and house collapses since 26 June, the National Disaster Management Authority said on Tuesday.
The agency issued fresh alerts for flash flooding and glacial lake outbursts in the northern and northwestern provinces of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing "a significant rise in temperatures and an upcoming weather system'.
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