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At approximately 10:30 a.m. on August 26, 2026, a major mudslide disaster struck the Gyirong border port in Gyirong County, Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The mudslide was triggered by a glacial collapse on the Nepalese side of the China-Nepal border and rapidly developed into a large-scale flash flood that surged into the core area of the Gyirong port, causing major casualties and a large number of missing persons. According to the latest official Chinese update, issued at 1:00 a.m. on August 29, the disaster has so far caused 7 confirmed deaths and left 554 people missing, while 2 people have been rescued alive from Reso village. This ranks among the most serious natural disasters to hit the Tibet Autonomous Region in recent years, and search and rescue operations are continuing around the clock.

According to disaster-cause analyses reported by Xinhua and other outlets, the mudslide originated from a glacier collapse on the Nepalese side of the Himalayas, which triggered a large-scale debris flow and flash flood that rushed down the Gyirong Zangbo river valley before crossing the border into China and striking the Gyirong port. Site monitoring and expert reconstructions indicate that the entire process — from the glacial collapse to the flood's impact on the Gyirong port — took only about seven minutes, with peak flow velocities reaching as high as 50 meters per second, leaving virtually no time for warning or evacuation for people and structures along the route. In the aftermath, the main building at the Gyirong port was severely damaged, with parts of it reduced to a bare steel-reinforcement skeleton, while roads, communications and power infrastructure around the port were widely disrupted.

In the first day or two after the disaster, communication outages and damaged roads made it difficult for rescuers to reach the core disaster zone, and the casualty figures were repeatedly revised as verification work progressed. An update on August 27 had put the toll at 3 dead and 558 missing; as more rescue forces arrived and information on missing persons was gradually verified, the confirmed death toll rose while the number listed as missing was slightly revised downward. As of the latest update at 1:00 a.m. on August 29, the confirmed death toll stands at 7, with 554 people still missing, in addition to the 2 people earlier rescued alive from the affected Reso village. Officials have said these figures are not final and may continue to change as search and verification efforts proceed.

Following the disaster, China's Ministry of Emergency Management and the National Fire and Rescue Administration quickly dispatched rescue forces to the scene. In the early hours of August 27, the National Fire and Rescue Administration deployed 111 firefighters and rescuers from the China Rescue Team, based mainly on the Sichuan Fire and Rescue Corps, who rushed to the disaster site overnight carrying detection, life-detection, breaching, communication and logistics-support equipment. Additional forces from the Tibet Fire and Rescue Corps and the Sichuan Mobile Corps arrived in the following days; by 10:00 a.m. on August 28, the national comprehensive fire and rescue force had deployed a cumulative total of 681 personnel and 113 vehicles to the site. Because the disaster area sits in a high-altitude gorge more than 3,800 meters above sea level, with some sections of road completely washed away, rescue teams advanced toward the core disaster zone using a combined water, land and air approach — rubber boats on the water, rescuers hiking over mountains on land, and aerial reconnaissance and supply drops from above. A high-altitude-capable Mi-171 helicopter has also been deployed to the disaster zone to assist with aerial reconnaissance and the delivery of supplies.

The Gyirong port is a key border crossing and transport hub between China and Nepal, and the disaster inflicted devastating damage on its infrastructure — the joint inspection building at the port was largely flattened by the floodwaters, leaving only its steel-reinforcement skeleton standing, while roughly 2.6 kilometers of the roadbed on National Highway G216 leading to the core port area was completely washed out, at one point making it impossible for rescue vehicles and heavy machinery to get through. About 72 hours after the disaster, around August 29, China Energy Engineering Group's China Anneng unit mobilized 60 technical and skilled personnel along with 14 pieces of heavy engineering equipment, including excavators and loaders, and rushed them to the site to urgently repair the damaged stretch of highway. Crews are reinforcing and rebuilding the washed-out roadbed using steel-mesh gabion cages filled with stone, in an effort to restore land access to the core disaster area as quickly as possible and create the conditions needed for continued search-and-rescue operations and the transport of supplies.

Local officials have warned that, even as rescue operations continue, the area around the Gyirong port still faces a serious threat of secondary geological disasters. The glacial collapse and mudslide left several unstable barrier lakes — bodies of water dammed by collapsed earth and debris — in the upstream river channel, and some of these have recently shown signs of overflowing; a breach could trigger further flooding and mudslides downstream. Local weather authorities have forecast continued rain in the coming days, which would further raise the risk of landslides, mudslides and flooding. In response, the rescue command has set up an observation post near the barrier lakes, assigning specialists to monitor them around the clock, and has organized geological and natural-resource experts to inspect surrounding mountainsides and roads for hazards, in order to prevent further disasters and protect the safety of rescue personnel.

It is worth noting that this is a cross-border natural disaster, and the Nepalese side of the China-Nepal border has suffered even more severe casualties. According to international media reports, including CNN, as of August 28, rescuers on the Nepalese side had recovered at least 157 bodies, with roughly 2,500 people still unaccounted for — a toll far larger than that on the Chinese side. It should be emphasized that the casualty figures from the Nepalese side are entirely separate from the toll of 7 dead and 554 missing recorded at China's Gyirong port; the two are distinct sets of data, compiled and released independently by each country's authorities, and should not be conflated or added together. Both countries' disasters stem from the same cross-border natural-disaster event in the Himalayan region. In addition, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told a regular press briefing that nearly 100 Chinese nationals had at one point been reported missing in the disaster-affected area on the Nepalese side — a separate count from the 554 missing at China's Gyirong port that should not be conflated with it. Separately, according to preliminary information released by local authorities, the missing at the Chinese-side Gyirong port include 260 foreign nationals, whose exact identities and nationalities are still being verified. China's embassy and consulates in Nepal have activated a consular emergency mechanism and are coordinating with Nepalese authorities and the Beijing-based embassies of relevant countries to verify information on missing persons, and Chinese authorities have said search-and-rescue efforts will treat Chinese and foreign nationals equally.

As of the latest reports, apart from the 2 people rescued earlier from Reso village, no additional survivors have been found on either the Nepalese or Chinese side of the border, and search-and-rescue operations are now in their fourth day, with conditions remaining difficult and dangerous. Chinese authorities have said they will continue to reinforce search-and-rescue forces, press ahead with repairs to National Highway G216, and closely monitor the risk of secondary disasters such as barrier-lake overflow, while doing everything possible to locate those still missing. The disaster has once again highlighted the risks of glacial melt, glacial lake outbursts and mountain flooding in the Himalayan region amid climate change, and has underscored the severe challenges that the region's fragile border infrastructure and terrain pose for cross-border emergency response.