Kathmandu, Nepal – One of dozens of U.S. citizens missing in the wake of devastating flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border has been contacted, Nepali government officials confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday. About 85 Americans were still listed as missing, and the news that rescuers managed to contact one could bring hope to thousands of families around the world desperately waiting for news of their loved ones. CBS News was still working to confirm details of the case, and it was unclear who the U.S. citizen contacted by Nepali agencies might be, where he was located or what condition he was in. on Tuesday, authorities said. Chinese authorities have confirmed that 16 people were killed in Tibet and more than 550 remain missing on that side of the border. People search for usable materials among the rubble after flash floods at the Trishuli Center in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, September 1, 2026. Arun SANKAR/AFP/Getty An official document compiled by the Nepal Tourism Board said that as of Monday afternoon, rescuers were “in contact” with five foreigners among the thousands of missing people, including an unidentified American, three Spaniards and a Belgian. The document said that 315 foreign nationals had been rescued in total. CBS News spoke earlier this week with the only two Americans known to have been rescued so far from the disaster zone in Nepal, Anjana Raja and Pattabiraman Venkatesan. The San Francisco Bay Area couple was on a pilgrimage to Tibet when the disaster struck, and told CBS News on Friday that they were headed to the border with Nepal when what looked like a tsunami rolled down the valley while they were on a tour bus. “It’s like 60, 70 feet, it looked like a tsunami, but dark black,” Venkatesan told CBS News. “I could see this monster coming down. At the time I didn’t know if it was water. I thought it was fire, a forest fire, honestly.” The pair managed to get out of the bus and ran to higher ground, eventually reaching the top of a mountain where they spent the night in a goat shed with other survivors before being airlifted to safety the next day. Some 600 hydropower plant workers are among those missing in Nepal, and are believed to be trapped inside several projects in the disaster area, according to the Himalayan nation’s prime minister. Residents look at a damaged tunnel of the Trishuli hydropower plant on the banks of the swollen Trishuli River, following deadly flash floods and landslides, on August 30, 2026, in Trishuli, Nepal. Ritesh Shukla/Getty Work by search and rescue teams to clear tunnels blocked by mud to reach workers has continued apace, amid concerns that oxygen inside could run out. Almost a week ago, the collapse of a mountain slope and glacier in the Himalayas triggered avalanches in Tibet and Nepal, which in turn caused devastating flash floods. Recovery teams have found bodies in river beds downstream. No one in the region can remember the sacred Trishuli river rising higher than last week. Rohit Tamang, 22, has spent his entire life in his house above Trishuli. He told CBS News that he watched helplessly as the waters rose last Wednesday, and that he won’t leave now, “because my childhood memories are here.” Nepal’s Foreign Minister told CBS News on Tuesday that authorities believe many foreigners may have been hiking in the mountains when the disaster struck, leaving them stranded without communications but possibly safe. I hoped that instead of mud and water, more good news would soon arrive from the Himalayas. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
