El balance de víctimas por el colapso glaciar en el Himalaya asciende a 552 muertos y más de 1,500 desaparecidos

**Himalayan Glacier Collapse Leaves 552 Dead, More Than 1,500 Missing**

*Kathmandu, Nepal – August 28, 2026* – The catastrophic failure of a glacier on the Langtang Lirung peak, straddling the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, has resulted in at least 552 confirmed deaths and over 1,500 people reported missing, according to the emergency management agencies of both countries.

**Timeline and scale of the event**

– **26 August 2026 (Wednesday)** – A block of ice roughly 600 metres wide detached from the main glacier mass. United States Geological Survey (USGS) sensors recorded ground vibrations equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, which investigators later attributed to the sudden release of millions of cubic metres of frozen debris rather than to tectonic activity.
– The ice‑mass fell nearly 1,900 metres vertically into the river system of the Lhende Khola, Trishuli and Bhote Koshi. The resulting surge of water, mud and rock created a damming effect before breaching natural barriers and racing downstream for about 100 kilometres.
– The flow devastated villages, hydro‑electric project sites and a stretch of the trans‑Himalayan road linking Kathmandu with Lhasa.

**Human toll**

– Nepal’s disaster response agency reports 547 confirmed fatalities on the Nepalese side and 5 on the Chinese side, bringing the total to 552.
– Missing persons exceed 1,530: more than 970 are unaccounted for in Nepal’s districts, while Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cited 558 missing in Gyirong County, including over 250 foreign nationals.

**Material damage**

– Preliminary estimates from BBC World News place damage to transportation infrastructure at over US$115 million. Approximately 40 kilometres of the Kathmandu‑Lhasa highway have been destroyed, along with around twenty pedestrian and vehicular bridges.
– Nepal’s power sector has lost roughly 12 percent of its installed capacity after the inundation of hydro‑electric facilities in the Trishuli basin.

**Rescue operations**

– The Nepalese Army, using helicopters, has rescued more than 3,200 individuals, including workers trapped in the Upper Trishuli‑1 hydro‑electric project tunnels.
– Rescue efforts are hampered by the formation of a high‑altitude (≈3,000 metres) “dam‑lake” created by accumulated sediments upstream. The National Authority for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRMA) warned that rising water levels in this lake threaten a secondary, potentially larger outburst flood, prompting intermittent pauses in search‑and‑rescue activities.

**Scientific context**

Scientists monitoring the region have linked the increased frequency of sudden glacier detachments to rising global temperatures, which accelerate melt‑water production and destabilize ice masses in the Himalayas.

**International response**

Several countries have offered assistance, and humanitarian agencies are coordinating the delivery of relief supplies to affected communities. The situation remains fluid, with authorities emphasizing the need for continued vigilance against further glacial outbursts.

Article and image source: elsalvadortimes.com