At least 33 Britons missing after flash floods in Nepal and Tibet

Rescue teams in Nepal are searching for at least 33 British nationals who are among those missing after flash floods ravaged its border with Tibet, killing at least 165 people.

Nearly 1,500 people are missing, the majority of them tourists, authorities have said, after a glacier collapse triggered devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet, roaring down valleys and razing entire villages.

Tour company Kailash Journeys confirmed it had not been able to account for seven UK nationals – five women and two men aged between 18 and 55 – travelling with the company.

Tour operator Alpine Eco Trek said a 13-year-old girl was among the missing British nationals, as well as two Irish citizens. They were on a nine-day tour to Mount Kailash and crossing into Tibet from Nepal when they became trapped at the border as the flash floods struck.

The other missing British nationals include a 13-year-old girl, three men aged 65, 64 and 52, and seven women aged 44, 47, 51, 60, 63, 63 and 65, according to travel logs.

The president of the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management, Bishal Nath Upreti, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the flash floods were like a “tsunami from the sky”.

He said: “It’s a huge debris, and in fact, after the 2015 earthquake, this is one of the largest disasters that we have [had] in Nepal.

He added: “It was such a huge amount of water. You can imagine it is 20 million cubic meters excess water on the river… Villages and villages along the almost 40 to 50 kilometres were completely wiped out.”

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said the number of missing people had risen from 403 to 826, with the preliminary death toll standing at 165.

The Nepal Tourism Board said on Wednesday that 33 UK citizens were among the 466 foreign nationals unaccounted for out of 579 travellers missing from the affected area.

At least three people had died in Tibet, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, while the Xinhua news agency said 558 people were unaccounted for in the region.

Rescuers are racing to locate people missing in the mountainous Rasuwa region, which borders China’s autonomous region of Tibet and is popular with trekkers and pilgrims, including the hundreds of nationals from India, the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

UK goverment minister Pat McFadden told Times Radio that the picture was “not completely clear yet”, with “many, many more” people understood to be missing than those reported by the Nepalese authorities, and no clear figures from the Chinese side yet.

He added: “In terms of missing Britons, my colleague the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, has posted on social media phone numbers that people can call for further information. We are working as closely as we can with the Nepalese authorities. Consular assistance is available to families.

“But it’s a fast-moving picture. We don’t have a full picture yet of the numbers missing, and we will do everything we can to help the Nepalese authorities find them, and to support the families of those who are missing.”

McFadden told Sky News that the UK was likely to financially support Nepal’s flood response. “It’s in every country’s interest to do this. There’s been a number of international offers to the Nepalese government in the last few days, and of course the UK will play its part in that,” he said.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the floods in Nepal”.

It added: “British nationals in Nepal should follow local authority advice and exercise caution while travelling. For consular assistance call (+44) (0)207 008 5000 or (+977) (0)14237100.”