Rescuers search for missing after mudslide in Xizang

Over 350 people in Gyirong county in the Xizang autonomous region have been relocated to safe places after a mudslide struck early on Tuesday. Emergency teams also conducted search and rescue operations for missing individuals and worked on restoring key infrastructure, local authorities said.

Those relocated include 46 local residents, 90 Nepalese businessmen and workers, two tourists and 61 construction workers from project sites. All have been resettled in designated hotels, along with customs and border inspection workers and personnel from the Gyirong border economic cooperation zone, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The basic living needs of these people have been met, and recovery efforts are proceeding in an orderly manner, it said.

The mudslide hit at around 5 am on Tuesday near Gyirong Port, a major border crossing between China and Nepal, affecting communities on both sides of the border. Preliminary reports suggest 11 people are missing in China, while six Chinese construction workers remain unaccounted for in Nepal.

On Tuesday, authorities in the city of Shigatse initiated a level III flood control and drought relief emergency response and a level III natural disaster relief emergency response.

Emergency teams were swiftly deployed by the region's Shigatse city government, which oversees Gyirong. More than 320 personnel, along with 52 pieces of heavy equipment and five drones are deployed to conduct search and rescue operations. Efforts are focused on locating the missing, delivering essential supplies, and evacuating residents and tourists to safety.

"We immediately dispatched our team from Shigatse with speedboats, underwater robots, rope rescue equipment and other critical equipment," said Jiang Hua, a member of the Shigatse detachment of the Xizang forest fire brigade.

Access to Gyirong Port remains challenging, an approximately 100-meter section of the road to the port is submerged under 2 meters of floodwater, hampering relief efforts. Rescue workers are also working to reopen the vital route, according to Xinhua.

Transport authorities are working to restore access along the G216 highway, a key route linking Gyirong township with Nepal's Rasuwa border gate.

According to a report by Xizang TV, the water level of the Donglin Tsangpo River in Gyirong county surged at around 5:45 am on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the Rasuwa Bridge, also known as Friendship Bridge, at Gyirong Port.