A deadly flood that tore through Nepal’s Bhote Koshi River this week has left at least nine dead and more than two dozen missing, with the disaster traced to the sudden drainage of a supraglacial lake in Tibet, China. The event is the latest in a growing pattern of climate-driven hazards impacting the fragile Hindu Kush Himalaya region.
Among the missing are 19 people in Nepal, including six Chinese workers stationed at the Beijing-supported Inland Container Depot. The flood also destroyed the vital ‘Friendship Bridge’ linking Nepal and China. Across the border in Tibet, 11 people are reported missing, according to Chinese state media.
Experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) warn that these events are becoming alarmingly frequent, driven by accelerating glacier melt and erratic monsoon patterns tied to climate change. The sudden outburst from the high-altitude supraglacial lake underscores how vulnerable the region is to cascading climate disasters.
The tragedy points to the urgent need for stronger cross-border monitoring, better early warning systems, and infrastructure designed to withstand climate extremes. As global warming intensifies, experts stress that without swift action to boost climate resilience, the communities of the Hindu Kush Himalayas remain dangerously exposed to disasters that are becoming all too common.