Chinese officials said on Sunday (September 6, 2026) that workers had recovered 12 more bodies as the search continued for hundreds still missing after a tsunami-like mudslide destroyed China’s main border crossing with Nepal. Rescue workers in bright orange uniforms used excavators, shovels and ground-penetrating radar to scour the now-buried site of the Gyirong border crossing.
Once a historic trading hub, Gyirong had become the main crossing for trade and travellers between Nepal and Tibet after a 2015 earthquake damaged an alternative route farther east. Chinese scientists have found more than 3,000 glacial lakes, of which 187 are classified as high-risk and are monitored via remote sensors or on the ground, officials told reporters. Alongside serving as a gateway for Chinese exports, including electric vehicles, it had become a transit point for Hindu pilgrims travelling through Nepal to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for both Hindus and Buddhists. Hindus believe it to be the eternal home of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati.
China will consider whether it should be built back differently in the wake of the disaster, officials said. “This disaster occurred on the Nepalese side of the border; further international cooperation is required to enhance monitoring and early-warning capabilities,” Norbu Tsering, deputy head of the emergency rescue headquarters, said.
The crossing was closed between July last year and January after an earlier glacial flood.
