Nepal floods live: 12 Brits among hundreds missing near Tibet after avalanche

As many as 384 tourists, including 12 Brits, are thought to be missing after sudden flooding in Nepal today.

An avalanche of ice and rock triggered massive flash floods which killed at least eight people and caused massive damage to villages and infrastructure along the Bhotekoshi River, which has now swelled.

Officials said 384 tourists, including from countries including India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, were missing following the floods.

Officials have issued warnings to residents living across several districts of Nepal, telling them to stay away from the banks of Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers. Several villages as well as roads and hydropower projects have been obliterated in the floods, authorities said.

Stills from video taken of the floods show torrents of water surging down mountain valleys leaving destroyed villages in their wake.

The floods have caused massive amounts of damage to communities along the banks of the Bhotekoshi River and connecting waterways.

The worst affected area, Rasuwa district, witnessed similar flash floods to those in August last year, when a glacial lake in neighboring Tibet overflowed as a result of high temperatures in the mountain region. Nine people lost their lives and critical infrastructure including a bridge connecting the two countries were damaged at the time.

The Himalayan region, which crosses Nepal and several nearby countries including India, is especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because the area is warming up faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Research has shown that extreme weather events including heat waves, heavy rains and melting glaciers have become more frequent in the region.

Researchers at the Kathmandu research group found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000 primarily due to rising global temperatures and climate change.

Tourism Board spokesperson Sunil Sharma said the latest data provided by tourism businesses showed that 384 people were currently unaccounted for. Those figures include 291 foreign nationals and 93 Nepali citizens.

Local media reports the missing include 105 Indian nationals, 12 from the United Kingdom, four from South Africa, 17 from Malaysia and three from the United States. One each from Australia and the Netherlands has also been reported unaccounted for.

Search and rescue efforts are underway for tourists and trekkers in the affected areas. The searches are being coordinated by the Nepal Tourism Board, Tourist Police, local administration, security agencies

The Bhotekoshi River flooded around 9am. Wednesday, destroying several villages as well as roads and hydropower projects, officials said.

They issued warnings to residents of several of Nepal's districts and asked them to stay away from the banks of Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers.