China on Wednesday confirmed three dead and 265 missing in the southern Tibet region after landslides hit a border area with Nepal, state media reported.
The latest death toll follows a mudslide along the China-Nepal border in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, according to Xinhua News.
Officials said the mudslide occurred on the Nepalese side of the border and struck the Gyirong Port border crossing in Gyirong County on Wednesday morning.
Authorities were still verifying the casualties while rescue operations continued, according to the on-site emergency headquarters.
Local authorities have closed all vehicle routes from the town of Gyirong to the border crossing, except those involved in emergency and rescue operations.
The restrictions were imposed after the mudslide damaged roads in the area, making them unsafe for travel.
The disaster also disrupted road links, communications, and power supplies to the Chinese side of the crossing, according to the emergency management bureau of Gyirong County in Xigaze.
The mudslide caused severe casualties and left hundreds of people unaccounted for, according to an initial assessment.
According to Nepalese police, at least 97 people were killed on the Nepal side and 54 people have been rescued, while the Nepal Tourism Board said separately that it recorded 384 missing people.
Gyirong Port is a major land crossing linking China and Nepal and serves as an important route for trade and movement between the two countries.
An initial assessment provides a possible explanation for the sudden surge that caused widespread destruction along the Lhende and Bhotekoshi rivers.
An analysis of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicates that a snow-and-rock landslide near the border triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, although authorities continue to assess the disaster and its full effect, according to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
