A head teacher evacuated nine hundred pupils from a school building minutes before catastrophic flash floods washed the structure away near the Nepal-Tibet border, according to BBC News and Reuters. Head teacher Rajendra Dawadi moved the entire student body to elevated terrain after receiving an urgent tip about advancing mountain torrents. Minutes after the evacuation, the surging water destroyed the compound along with a neighbouring market. One surviving pupil recounted that the school community reached safety with only ten seconds to spare before the deluge submerged the area.
Decisive local action prevented mass casualties among children amid a wider regional catastrophe.
The disaster has claimed at least 788 lives in Nepal, with more than 2,500 people remaining unaccounted for across affected districts, local authorities reported. Across the border in Tibet, Chinese state media confirmed 16 fatalities and 546 individuals missing. Emergency workers continue to navigate severe terrain obstacles and severed transit lines to reach stranded communities.
Continuous torrential downpours have caused the Trishuli River and adjacent water systems to breach flood safety thresholds. Hundreds of foreign travellers visiting Himalayan trekking routes and cultural sites are among the missing. India reported that at least 320 Indian nationals are currently unaccounted for in the region. The Chinese foreign ministry noted that nearly 100 Chinese citizens are missing in Nepal, while the United States Department of State confirmed 90 missing American citizens.
Authorities also registered missing persons from multiple other nations, including 62 from Ukraine, 51 from Malaysia, 41 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 30 from Canada. Smaller groups of tourists from South Korea, Portugal, South Africa, the Netherlands, and New Zealand remain out of contact.
Emergency response teams deployed aviation assets and specialized ground units to expand search operations along the river basins, Ummah Kantho confirmed.
