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KATMANDU, Nepal — A major landslide early Saturday morning near Nepal’s border with China killed at least eight people and left hundreds missing, officials in Nepal said. It also washed out part of a crucial highway and blocked a river, leading to a dangerous buildup of water.
“Hundreds of people are missing and at least 40 houses are buried in the landslide,” said Ganesh Khatri Chhetri, a Nepal police spokesman. At least 16 people had been rescued, he said.
A section of the Araniko Highway, which connects Nepal with China, was swept away, and rising water around the blockage created by rubble from a crumbled hill led thousands to seek higher ground. Police and military personnel in helicopters were trying to drop explosives on the blockage in hopes of blasting a hole in it to release the river.
“We are worried about a possible disaster that might happen after the explosives unlock the river,” Mr. Khatri Chhetri said. “It could wash away many villages after the blocked river is unlocked.”
Many residents fled their homes with minimal possessions after the landslide, which occurred at 2 a.m. Saturday. “Many people including me are waiting on the road with their baggage after the landslide,” Kapil Dhital, of the Nepalese town of Barabise, said on Twitter. “Now, I also have no other options but to move toward Tatopani” on the Chinese border, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is scheduled to visit Nepal on Sunday, the first time in 17 years that an Indian prime minister has traveled to Nepal for bilateral discussions. Mr. Modi’s visit is seen by many in Nepal as a chance to resolve decades of misunderstandings, and accelerate the development of hydropower from the country’s many rivers.