Taiwan checking safety of nationals after deadly Tibet landslide: MAC

Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) Taiwan's government is seeking information on the safety of its nationals in Tibet following a deadly landslide near Gyirong Port on the Nepal-China border, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Wednesday.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, MAC said 51 Taiwanese nationals had registered as being in Tibet, through the government's voluntary online travel registration system for people visiting China.

The council, Taiwan's top government agency for handling cross-Taiwan Strait affairs, said it had asked the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to use available "channels" to check on the safety of Taiwanese in the affected area, without specifying what those channels were.

The SEF is a semi-official organization tasked by Taiwan's government with handling matters involving Taiwanese visiting, living, or doing business in China, as well as exchanges between the two sides.

Formal communication between the two sides has been largely suspended since 2016, when Beijing halted official contacts following the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party's return to power.

On Wednesday, the MAC also expressed sympathy to China, on behalf of the Taiwan government, over the disaster.

According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, the landslide occurred on the Nepalese side of the border at around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, causing significant casualties and leaving people missing near Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, Shigatse City, in southern Tibet.

Road access, communications and electricity on the Chinese side leading to the port were cut off, Xinhua reported at around 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Citing an on-site rescue command center, the news agency later reported that three people had been confirmed dead, while 265 remained missing, as of 8 p.m. Wednesday, with the number of casualties still being verified.

Gyirong Port connects to Rasuwa District in Nepal and is one of the largest land ports between China and Nepal and serves as a major trade and passenger crossing between Tibet and the South Asian country.

The crossing reopened in January after a flood in July 2025 swept away a bridge linking the two sides, suspending cross-border traffic for nearly six months.

On the Nepal side of the border, authorities said that 162 people had been killed, according to a BBC report Thursday morning.

More than 400 people are thought to be missing, including about 340 foreign nationals, the BBC reported, citing Nepal authorities.