Stranded Indian pilgrims return to Nepal via Zhangmu after Tibet floods

Beijing,UPDATED: Aug 29, 2026 16:48 IST

A large number of Indian pilgrims stranded in Tibet after massive flash floods destroyed the Gyirong border post began returning to Nepal on Saturday through the alternate Zhangmu border point. Hundreds of foreign tourists, most of them part of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, had been left stranded after the devastation caused by the floods, which have killed over 600 people.

The Gyirong-Nepal border post is the main entry and exit point for Tibet through Nepal. After it was destroyed, stranded pilgrims, including several Indians, started crossing into Nepal through Zhangmu, a border point that had earlier been closed because of earthquakes and landslides in the region. Earlier, Chinese official media reported that 555 tourists were among 1,000 people evacuated from Gyirong County.

Former Defence Research and Development Organisation chairman G Sateesh Reddy was among the Indian pilgrims who returned to the Nepal border through Zhangmu on Saturday. Speaking to PTI while travelling to the border point, Reddy said, "I can see a lot of buses and vehicles travelling en route to Nepal through Zhangmu border point."

Reddy was part of a 31-member group from Hyderabad that travelled to Tibet on August 23. The group had entered the Tibet Autonomous Region through the Gyirong-Nepal border and was due to return through the same point on Friday. He said he and his family heard about the flash floods on Wednesday while they were doing the Parikrama, or circumambulation, around the sacred Kailash mountain along with thousands of others.

Reddy said he was informed about the flash flood at the Gyirong-Nepal border post through a call from embassy officials. "Otherwise, we have not felt any impact and continued our Parikrama," he said. The torrent of water, mud and debris that engulfed large parts of the border area has also raised concerns over the safety of pilgrim centres. Reddy said Kailash Mountain and Mansarovar Lake, which are 700 kms from Gyirong, were not impacted by the flash floods.

The Chinese government is carrying out large relief and rescue operations, but has not yet commented on the impact of the flash floods on the rest of Tibet's fragile mountainous environment. The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra route was reopened last year as part of the normalisation process between India and China after a five-year freeze due to COVID-19 and the stand-off in Eastern Ladakh, and the return through Zhangmu has now begun to bring stranded pilgrims back into Nepal.

With PTI Inputs

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