Disasters & Incidents
Tibet mudslide area has new lake, state media says
A landslide has formed a new lake in the Tibet area hit by the Gyirong mudslide, Chinese state media reported Sunday.
The brief update gave no size for the lake or immediate details on its effect on rescue operations. It follows earlier reports that a separate lake formed by the mudslide had temporarily paused rescue work before CCTV said it was discharging naturally and had essentially drained, citing China's Ministry of Water Resources.
The mudslide hit Gyirong County in Tibet after a glacier fracture on Lirung Peak in Nepal, Chinese state media reported earlier Sunday. Xinhua said experts concluded that a glacier on the southern slope of Lirung Peak fractured at about 10:52 a.m. Beijing time on August 26, triggering an ice-rock avalanche.
Chinese authorities raised the death toll on their side of the border from seven to 16 on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing local officials. CCTV said 546 people remained missing in Tibet. Of those missing, 261 were foreign nationals, including 104 from Nepal, 49 from India, 33 from Latvia and 18 from the United States.
The disaster sent a wall of water through the border region between Nepal and Tibet this week, sweeping away villages. Figures from Nepal and Chinese authorities in earlier reports put the overall number of missing people at close to 3,000, with 691 bodies recovered.
CCTV said Chinese authorities had notified relevant embassies and consulates. It also said there were no foreign tourists stranded in Gyirong County after surveys, site checks and individual verifications at the border crossing.
More than 500 rescuers had reached the heart of the devastation by Saturday, Xinhua reported earlier. Rescue work had been hampered by rain, closed access roads and rugged terrain.
Update
Chinese state media reported that a landslide formed a new lake in the Tibet mudslide-hit area.
Source note: AFP news report published on 30 August 2026 at 05:09:41 UTC.
Update
Xinhua said experts concluded that a glacier on the southern slope of Lirung Peak in Nepal fractured at about 10:52 a.m. Beijing time on August 26, triggering an ice-rock avalanche.
CCTV said 261 foreign nationals were among those missing in Tibet, including 104 from Nepal, 49 from India, 33 from Latvia and 18 from the United States.
CCTV said Chinese authorities had notified the relevant embassies and consulates.
CCTV said no foreign tourists were stranded in Gyirong County after checks and verifications.
Figures from Nepal and Chinese authorities put the overall number of missing people at close to 3,000, with 691 bodies recovered.
Source note: AFP news report published on 30 August 2026 at 01:33:19 UTC.
Update
Chinese state media now report 16 deaths in the Tibet mudslide.
Chinese state media now report 546 people missing in the Tibet mudslide.
Source note: AFP news report published on 30 August 2026 at 00:40:02 UTC.
Update
China's Xinhua news agency reported at least seven deaths and 554 people missing in the Gyirong area by early Saturday.
More than 500 rescuers had reached the heart of the devastation by Saturday, Xinhua reported.
CCTV said late Saturday that the lake formed by the mudslide was discharging naturally and had essentially drained, citing China's water resources ministry.
Xinhua reported a total of 2,141 rescuers near the Gyirong site.
Source note: AFP news report published on 29 August 2026 at 15:10:37 UTC.
Update
Heavy rain, thunderstorms and roads covered in mud are complicating the search for hundreds of missing people.
The first rescuers reached the worst-hit site in Tibet on Friday afternoon, more than 50 hours after the mudslide.
Chinese weather authorities warned of heavy rain through Saturday and possible thunderstorms through Monday.
CCTV said rescue operations were temporarily paused earlier Friday because of secondary-disaster risks from an upstream lake overflowing.
CCTV later said the risk was gradually decreasing as water flowed naturally out of the lake.
The US Geological Survey said the disaster was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a flow of icy debris.
Communications at the worst-hit site remained down on Friday.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 14:42:22 UTC.
Update
Xinhua said a team of 21 rescuers became the first to reach the main affected area late Friday afternoon.
Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of top leaders about the rescue operation.
Xinhua reported leaders as saying glacier, ice lake and geological hazards were creating major rescue difficulties.
CCTV said 499 Chinese nationals and 555 foreigners had been transported out of the disaster zone as of Friday.
CCTV said rescuers were using drone-based 3D modelling, thermal imaging and manual searches.
Xi offered China’s help for Nepal’s rescue efforts.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 10:30:32 UTC.
Update
Chinese state media said rescuers had reached the epicentre of the Tibet mudslide.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 09:53:34 UTC.
Update
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that the death toll had risen from three to five.
CCTV said 558 people were still missing as of 3 pm local time, 0700 GMT, on Friday.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 08:18:43 UTC.
Update
CCTV said water was flowing out of the lake naturally, with outflow exceeding inflow.
CCTV said the lake level had dropped by around 10 metres from its high level early on August 27.
Chinese state media said rescue operations were proceeding in an orderly manner.
It remained unclear whether the lake was the same as a debris dam that Nepalese authorities warned had burst on Friday.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 07:57:51 UTC.
Update
Chinese state media said risks from the lake formed after the Tibet mudslide were gradually decreasing.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 07:47:48 UTC.
Update
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said 499 local residents had also been transported out of the disaster zone as of Friday morning.
CCTV said it did not specify the nationalities of the evacuated tourists.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 02:03:43 UTC.
Update
Chinese state media reported that 555 stranded tourists were evacuated from Tibet after the mudslide.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 01:49:22 UTC.
Update
Xinhua reported that inflows into the artificial lake could reach about 3 million cubic meters over the next three days amid continued rainfall.
Xinhua reported that a breach could send floodwaters downstream and potentially cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 00:55:25 UTC.
Update
Chinese state media reported that China warned of a high flood risk from a lake formed by the mudslide.
Source note: AFP news report published on 28 August 2026 at 00:43:18 UTC.
Update
Beijing said nearly 100 Chinese people were missing in Nepal after flooding.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 August 2026 at 07:16:26 UTC.
Update
More than a thousand rescuers equipped with dogs and drones were searching for survivors on the Chinese side of the border.
Rescue work faced challenges including an unstable upstream reservoir lake and a narrow mountain road.
Large vehicles and heavy equipment could not currently reach the main disaster zone, according to CCTV.
Authorities dispatched nearly 800 people and more than 150 vehicles to the border area, according to Xinhua.
The fire service deployed 431 personnel with search dogs, life-detection scanners and small boats.
Civilian and military aircraft carrying relief supplies arrived in Tibet, CCTV said.
The risk of secondary disasters such as landslides and rockfalls remained high after overnight rainfall.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 August 2026 at 03:26:48 UTC.
Update
Chinese state media reported that 260 of the 558 people missing in the Tibet mudslide are foreign nationals.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 August 2026 at 02:51:25 UTC.
Update
Xinhua reported that a press conference was held in Shigatse on the Gyirong landslide disaster.
Xinhua reported that two people had been rescued.
Chinese state media said the missing count had risen to 558 from 265 reported late Wednesday.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 August 2026 at 02:45:17 UTC.
Update
Chinese authorities said three people were dead and 558 missing in the Tibet mudslide, state media reported.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 August 2026 at 02:27:35 UTC.
Update
Nepalese authorities said massive flooding at the Nepal-China border killed at least 95 people and left more than 400 travellers unaccounted for.
Rescue operations were ongoing on both sides of the border.
It was not immediately clear whether the Chinese and Nepalese figures overlapped, and CCTV said specific casualty figures were still being verified.
Source note: AFP news report published on 26 August 2026 at 15:05:14 UTC.
Update
Chinese authorities said three people were dead and 265 missing in the Tibet mudslide, according to state media.
Source note: AFP news report published on 26 August 2026 at 14:46:32 UTC.
Update
CCTV said the mudslide happened on the Nepalese side at about 10:30 am on August 26.
CCTV said the mudslide caused major casualties and missing people at Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, Shigatse City, Tibet.
Xinhua said Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all-out rescue operations.
Source note: AFP news report published on 26 August 2026 at 08:23:04 UTC.
Update
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged an "all-out" rescue effort after the mudslide hit Tibet, state media said.
Source note: AFP news report published on 26 August 2026 at 08:16:10 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The location, size and immediate risk of the newly formed lake were not specified in the brief update.
The effect of the newly formed lake on current rescue operations was not specified.
Overall Nepal and Tibet casualty and missing figures in the matched story came from separate authorities and reporting periods.
Source
AFP news report published on .