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.
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mudslide → say → 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.
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workers → use → crossing
The border crossing became a grisly emblem of the devastation that followed the collapse of a glacier on the Nepal side of the border on August 26 after videos showed a black wave of water, mud and debris sweeping over it with little warning.
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wave → become → warning
ALSO WATCH How a mountain collapse triggered Nepal’s deadly flood in just 7 minutes |
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collapse → watch → minutes
The Climate Economy
Reuters and other news agencies visited the land port, which sits in a narrow river gorge, in the first trip organised for international media by China’s foreign ministry on Sunday (September 6, 2026).
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which → visit → Sunday
The mudslide has killed more than 1,300 people on both sides of the border, with more than 5,000 missing.
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5,000 → kill → border
On the Chinese side, 43 were confirmed dead and 519 remained missing as of Saturday (September 5, 2026).
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519 → confirm → Saturday
Among those still unaccounted for were 261 foreigners from 23 countries, officials said.
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officials → say → countries
There was no trace of the five-storey Chinese customs building that had stood at the border before the disaster.
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that → be → disaster
Workers had planted a Chinese flag where the nearly 20-metre-tall border gate once stood.
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gate → plant → flag
Behind signs warning “Danger Area Pass Quickly”, groups of rescue and recovery workers dug through the debris while red excavators stood nearby.
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excavators → warn → debris
Officials told visiting reporters that recovery teams were taking fingerprints and recording identifying features such as tattoos as bodies were recovered.
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bodies → tell → tattoos
They had also collected 993 personal items from the site.
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They → collect → site
Families and diplomats representing countries with missing nationals have privately expressed growing frustration over what they describe as limited information-sharing by China.
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they → represent → China
Beijing has not detailed how it plans to proceed with DNA identification of victims as remains are recovered, representatives of four governments told Reuters.
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representatives → detail → Reuters
Diplomats also said China had not answered questions about whether video from the border crossing, including facial-recognition footage, could be shared with families or used to help identify the dead.
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video → say → dead
China’s foreign ministry has said its release of information about the floods was “transparent and timely” and that it is ready to work with other countries and agencies.
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it → say → countries
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.
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earthquake → become → route
China will consider whether it should be built back differently in the wake of the disaster, officials said.
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officials → consider → disaster
The crossing was closed between July last year and January after an earlier glacial flood.
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crossing → close → flood
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.
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it → serve → Hindus
Hindus believe it to be the eternal home of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati.
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it → believe → Shiva
Many of the foreign nationals still missing in Tibet were pilgrims with extended families in India, diplomats in Beijing have said.
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diplomats → miss → Beijing
China has pushed back against any suggestion that it could have provided any further early warning data before the glacier collapse in Nepal.
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it → push → Nepal
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.
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officials → find → reporters
“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.
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Tsering → occur → headquarters
The Aporia
