Lake caused flood: expert

The deadly flood in the Bhote Koshi that killed at least nine people and left more than two dozen missing this week was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in the Tibet region of China, a regional climate monitoring body said on Wednesday. Floodwater on Tuesday also washed away the Friendship Bridge to China. The Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development said that satellite imagery showed the flood originated from the draining of the lake north of Nepal’s Langtang Himal range. “This is based on the preliminary analysis based on the available satellite images,” said Sudan Maharjan, a remote sensing analyst and glacier expert at the center. A supraglacial lake is formed on the surface of a glacier, often beginning as small meltwater ponds.

Photo: AP

ISRAEL

Missile from Yemen blocked

The army yesterday said that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, days after carrying out strikes on Houthi rebel targets in the country. “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the army wrote on X.

COLOMBIA

Mule used in attack

A soldier was killed and two others were wounded on Wednesday when explosives carried by a mule exploded in a rural area, authorities said. Antioquia Governor Andres Julian Rendon confirmed the soldier’s death and blamed the National Liberation Army. Rendon said that “an equine armed with explosives” targeted soldiers patrolling near Valdivia. The army later confirmed that the animal was a mule and condemned “the cruel and macabre use of animals to carry out terrorism.”

EL SALVADOR

Mexican envoy recalled

President Nayib Bukele on Wednesday recalled his ambassador to Mexico and asked the country to clarify Mexican Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch’s claim that an intercepted plane loaded with cocaine had originated in El Salvador. Harfuch on Tuesday said that authorities had detected a small plane “originating in El Salvador” carrying 428kg of cocaine and that they had arrested three people. Bukele called the claim “FALSE” in a post on X and said he was recalling Ambassador to Mexico Delmy Canas. “We demand an immediate clarification and rectification from the Mexican government,” Bukele said separately at a news conference.

UNITED STATES

Tunnel in LA collapses

Thirty-one construction workers inside a huge industrial tunnel in Los Angeles made it to safety after a portion of it collapsed on Wednesday evening. The cave-in appears to have occurred between the tunnel boring machine 8km in from the sole entrance and the construction workers who were working 9.6km in, said Michael Chee, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which is in charge of the nearly US$700 million wastewater project. The workers were about 121m underground. Authorities were still investigating the cause, Chee said. The workers scrambled over loose soil to reach the boring machine and then were transported back to the opening. None of those rescued had major injuries, authorities said.