On August 18, a three-member SC bench issued several directives on pleas concerning Imran’s health and instructed authorities to move him to Shifa International Hospital, a private facility. However, the government instead took the PTI founder to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), a government hospital, for a check-up and then transported him back to the prison.

On Tuesday, Uzma filed a contempt plea against government functionaries and an application for its early hearing. However, the court fixed the case for September 16.

The fresh application, filed through Advocate Uzair Karamat Bhandari, sought the initiation of contempt proceedings against government functionaries within the present or early next week.

It stated that the contempt plea was meant to ensure the immediate implementation of the Aug 18 order.

The early hearing would “serve the interest of justice, protection of life and health and due enforcement” of the SC orders, the application said. It added that the subject matter of the petition concerned the life, health, dignity and physical well-being of “a national hero and a former prime minister”, whose health was deteriorating and whose life was stated to be in jeopardy.

It was unclear whether the decision to hear the matter on Sept 16 constituted directions by the competent authority/ the chief justice, or simply the “noting of the registrar which has been placed before the competent authority for consideration”.

The application pleaded that if the former was true, the decision to fix the case on Sept 16 be reconsidered and the matter be fixed for hearing expeditiously, either this week or as early as possible next week.

“The present case is unique on its facts and in the manner in which the Aug 18 order of this court has been brazenly flouted,” the application stated, adding that it had brought the governance and judicial systems of the country into international focus.

“Any further delay in hearing of the contempt petition may cause serious and irreparable harm,” it argued.

The application stated that the reasons set out for not fixing the contempt plea early could not justify such a long delay in the hearing of the case.

Earlier, the SC office had said that an early hearing of the contempt petition was not possible in view of the fact that there were 94 separate original criminal petitions of the same category pending before the court. The office had said that the fixation policy required that cases be fixed for hearing on their turn in the relevant category, and it was unlikely that the turn of the contempt case would come up.

Since the main case relating to Imran’s health was pending on Sept 16, the contempt plea may also be taken on the same date, the office had decided.

However, Uzma’s fresh application argued that there was nothing in the SC’s fixation policy preventing the immediate fixation of the contempt petition, and that in fact the policy “clearly prioritises” matters related to liberty — “especially where they arise due to non-compliance of court orders”.

Highlighting that the policy allowed the chief justice to pass orders for early fixation of the hearing, it said the applicant had “a strong prima facie case and the balance of convenience lies entirely in favour of early fixation”.

The application contended that no prejudice would be caused to the respondents if the matter was heard at the earliest, whereas delay could cause “irreparable loss and injury”.

Chinese state media had earlier reported “major casualties” from a mudslide at a Tibet border hub with three dead, taking the total killed to at least 273.

A terrifying clip of surveillance video from the Chinese side of the frontier shows a massive wall of mud and debris crashing over a building several stories high on Wednesday morning, engulfing it as dozens of people ran for their lives below. The surge swept away buses and cars like they were toys.

Many of the missing are foreign tourists, officials said of the disaster, which the US Geological Survey believes was caused by a glacial collapse that sent a flow of debris engulfing areas along the way.

The tsunami-like rumble of water and mud struck villages and towns on the path of two rivers — Bhote Koshi and Trishuli.

As per earlier figures, when Nepal’s death toll stood at 160, 823 people, including 579 Nepali and foreign tourists, remained out of contact, according to the country’s disaster agency.

These included nearly 100 Chinese nationals, according to Beijing’s foreign ministry. The Chinese embassy was “seeking further verification” from Nepali authorities, ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

Later, about 100 missing Indian visitors and 25 Chinese workers were located by rescuers in Nepal, authorities said.

Across the border, Chinese state media said 558 people, including 260 foreigners, were still missing.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah left by road for Bidur in one of the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot to assess the flood situation, his office said on social media.

Raju Bhadel, 56, a businessman in Nuwakot, recounted receiving a call from his brother-in-law in distress.

“They were crying and said their entire house had been swept away. Three family members were rescued, but his brother is still missing,” he said.

Also at Nuwakot, teacher Manok Mishra witnessed “nine trucks being swept away by the floods including people”.

‘Inland tsunami’

Rescuers waded through mud and sludge to look for survivors after floodwaters buried the lower floors of multi-storey buildings.

Among those hunting for their missing family members was Subash Khatani, who told AFP he was looking for his big brother.

“He is among the missing from Rasuwa. That’s why we are out to search for him,” he said.

Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 were from India, 63 were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

Others included tourists from Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and South Korea, Nepal’s tourism board said.

Hiking company Himalayan Glacier told AFP that 47 people from a group, including two children, were missing in Nepal.

“Our teams are checking hospitals where victims are coming in,” said the company’s director Sanket Pandey.

The sudden rush of mud and debris was “like an inland tsunami, travelling nearly 170 kilometres down the Bhote Koshi valley into Central Nepal”, said environmental historian Ruth Gamble of La Trobe University.

“It is a popular route for international tourists travelling from Kathmandu to Lhasa,” she added.

“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,” said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in a Nepali hospital.

“As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.”

A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. “My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud,” he added. “She’s gone.”

Another survivor said he saved himself by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.

Rasuwa, in the north of Nepal, was the first district to be affected. But deaths have been reported from seven Nepali districts in total as the floodwaters raged through to Chitwan in the south, on the border with India.

“There is devastation everywhere we look,” said Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa.

“The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”

The Nepali Army was carrying out flights and had rescued scores of people, while others living near the river in danger zones had been told to relocate.

China’s leader Xi Jinping said that “the most urgent task is doing everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people”, according to CCTV.

Tibet government officials mobilised nearly 800 emergency workers and 150 vehicles as well as sniffer dogs and speed boats to help the rescue efforts, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it was dispatching emergency supplies including blankets, first aid kits, stretchers and body bags.

“Entire villages and market areas have been wiped out,” said David Fisher, the Nepal head of IFRC.

The US State Department said it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500,000.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said details on the disaster were scant.

“Nepal … is a developing country,” he said. “It doesn’t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult.”

UN teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to support affected Nepali communities, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Glacial collapse

The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear in the hours after it occurred early on Wednesday, but the US Geological Survey said it was a glacial collapse that caused seismic activity and the “catastrophic” downstream impacts in Nepal and Tibet.

“This event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,” it said.

“Additional analysis of nearby seismic stations, long-period seismic waves, and satellite imagery led to the determination that the seismic event was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred.”

Climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risks of glacial lake floods and glacial collapses.

Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), warned of the potential for a second flood.

“With a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur,” he told AFP.

Many trekking companies were not running tours during the monsoon season, but there remain significant numbers of travellers, including pilgrims, in the region.

Experts cautioned that a lingering blockage in a river could produce an additional flood.

Among sites hit by the flood was Syabrubesi, the gateway to the popular trekking areas, as well as by pilgrims travelling to the base of Mount Kailash, a holy site for Buddhists and Hindus.

Traffic authorities in Tibet’s Shigatse said roads in the area were “at risk of mudslides and unsafe for passage”.

Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said that he was praying for all those killed in devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet.

“I pray for all those who have lost their lives, and offer my sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved and to all those affected by this tragedy,” he said in a statement.

Here is what experts believe happened so far:

Glacier collapse

A glacier collapse in Nepal’s mountains near Tibet appears to have triggered the disaster.

“A large chunk of glacier fell from about 5,200 metres… into a valley,” said Simon Cox, principal scientist at New Zealand’s GNS Science.

It “transformed into this raging mass of debris… where it picks up rocks and sediment and trees and anything in the way and fires it on down through the canyon,” he told AFP.

The wall of water first impacted a border post, as documented in terrifying CCTV footage showing mud and debris engulfing the area as people fled before it.

It then travelled downstream into Nepal, flooding villages and bringing down bridges and buildings.

Seismic activity

The glacier collapse was large enough to register as a seismic event, initially mistaken for an earthquake.

But after further analysis, the US Geological Survey determined “that the seismic event was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred”.

The collapse registered as a 5.2-magnitude “seismic event”, which took place at 8:37am local time (7:52am PKT).

Estimating just how much of the glacier collapsed will take time, Cox said, but it could range from “half a million cubic metres to tens of million cubic metres”.

Detective work

With the affected area largely inaccessible, experts are using satellite imagery and any available measurements on the ground to reconstruct the disaster.

“We can look at satellite imagery taken before and after the event, and try and see what has changed, essentially looking for what is missing from the mountains in the ‘after’ imagery,” said Lauren Vargo, a glaciologist at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington.

Soon after the seismic activity was recorded, a nearby water monitoring station stopped transmitting, Nepali authorities said.

Stations downstream began going offline one by one, though water was registered reaching up to 12.3 metres high in Kalikhola, near the Tibet border at 2:14pm, they added.

Glofs

Early speculation suggested a glacial lake outburst flood, or Glof, a growing risk as glaciers melt due to climate change.

A Glof occurs when a fragile debris wall holding back a lake of glacier melt suddenly collapses, unleashing the water behind it.

Some experts suggested a Glof might have been involved.

“Water does flow within glaciers and flows beneath glaciers,” said Adrian McCallum, a glaciologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

“But to my mind, the only reason why a large volume of water should all of a sudden flow down a valley is because it has been released,” he told AFP.

Other experts said they did not detect existing glacial lakes near the site of the glacier collapse, and theorised that water collected under the glacier might have cascaded down with the falling chunk.

The falling glacier ice could also have briefly dammed the river, collecting water behind it that was released when it dislodged.

Summer glacier melt upstream and monsoon rains would mean the rivers were already high, and the volume of water was also swelled by debris and mud picked up as it travelled kilometres from the initial collapse, added Cox.

Warnings

Nepali authorities first received word of a flood around 9:00am local time, and began alerting areas along the Bhote Khoshi river to “stay on high alert and stay in safe areas”.

But it is unclear how many people received the warning, or how much time they would have had to respond.

“The reality is, if you are in a community underneath a large glacier and potentially a glacier lake where a Glof could occur, then to some extent, it’s a ticking time bomb,” said McCallum.

And even for those receiving a warning, options would be limited, said Hatim Sharif, a hydrologist at the University of Texas San Antonio.

“Running will not help,” nor will trying to flee by vehicle, he told AFP, because the mud and water moving at high speed form a lethal combination “like liquid concrete.”

The only solution is to climb up a hill, at least 20 feet (six metres), he estimated.

Climate change

While it is hard to immediately attribute any individual glacial event to climate change, the warming planet is a constant background stress on these ancient ice rivers, experts say.

Glaciers are retreating globally, creating disaster risks but also depriving downstream communities of vital water sources.

“The biggest way to mitigate the risk would be to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming,” said Vargo.

Header image: A drone view shows mud covering buildings and property following devastating floods at Trishuli in Nuwakot district, Nepal, on Aug 27, 2026. — Reuters

Earlier, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal attributed to Wednesday’s incident to a spark in the air conditioner.

But standing committee chairperson Mahesh Kumar Malani told the media in Islamabad that “we have to see whether the fire was the result of negligence or a natural cause. It appears that there may have been a technical fault”.

He added that the source of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

“Some said that a spark was caused by an old air conditioner, [but] it had not been working for some time. The other two were portable,” he said.

Malani said one of the doctors had stated that a spark was caused by a bundle of wires while the nurses said it all happened suddenly. “So no one saw where the spark came from. We have concluded that no one knows the source of the fire.”

He recalled it was earlier stated that the presence of oxygen caused the fire to spread, adding that it was a possibility that there was a fault in the oxygen pipes.

However, “one thing is final, no one knows the source of the fire”, he reiterated, adding that the hospital’s executive director also agreed that the spark had not originated from the air conditioner.

“Nevertheless, there was a fault (somewhere),” Malani continued, suggesting that it could either have been in “oxygen pipes or the electricity wiring”.

He noted that the nursery where the incident took place was built in 1990 and stressed that there should not have been a nursery in the old building, particularly when there was a newly built block available on the premises.

“The nursery was not fit for the babies. This was supposed to be a gynae ward, and the babies should have been kept in the new block which was well-equipped,” he said.

Malani told reporters that the standing committee had sought answers from the hospital administration on certain questions.

“We are calling a committee meeting and will look at the issue on the grounds of merit,” he said, adding that the committee would also study the findings to be presented by a separate inquiry committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz within 24-48 hours.

Standing next to Malani, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party MNA Gul Asghar Khan said, “We have also asked Pims how often fire drills are carried out in the hospital and when the last drill was undertaken.”

He added that the committee had also sought information on Pims’ last fire audit as well as human errors which may have led to the incident and the reported presence of oxygen in the atmosphere at the time of the fire.

PPP MNA Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro added that the committee had also requested information on the functionality of fire alarms at the hospital.

Taking note of “conflicting statements” by the staff, she said they suggested that “either there was no one on duty, or if they were on duty, they were somewhere outside”.

She demanded that the Pims executive director, as well as the health minister, step down on “moral grounds”.

Responding to a question, Malani said that “technical experts” should also be consulted in determining the cause of the fire.

He, too, took note of the conflicting accounts by the staff.

“The gynae head told me that there was a bundle of wires in the ward, while someone said there may have been an oxygen cylinder that exploded”, he said, adding, “How could an oxygen cylinder have exploded when there weren’t any?”

So, the source of the fire was not yet known, he said.

Malani said the committee would examine “whether the right person was appointed for the right job” to ascertain any technical faults.

Pakistan Muslim League’s lawmaker Farakh Khan also spoke on the occasion and raised concerns about whether the nursery had undergone any maintenance over the years.

“If any maintenance had been carried out, why was an old AC still installed in the room and why was wiring left exposed?” she questioned, adding that if the administration could not manage the nursery, “they should finish it off”.

Malani then said the committee had sought information on the budget of Pims’ Mother and Child Health Care Centre, and about “how much of it was utilised”.

He said details about the number of times the oxygen and electricity systems were examined had specifically been sought.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl MNA Aliya Kamran said when the committee members spoke to the nurses, “it appeared as if they had been told what to say”.

She said the staff had left the infants unattended as the fire broke out.

“We are also not satisfied with the account the doctor on duty gave us,” she added.

She claimed there was a “deliberate attempt” to push the narrative that the blaze had originated from the AC. Kamran said that the NA committee would call the hospital administration and “question them within our capacity and present a fair opinion”.

Echoing her fellows’ remarks, Kamran demanded that the health minister resign. “The inquiry team will not be able to maintain transparency if he is in power,” she said and further demanded that the on-duty staff be suspended and their medical licences be revoked.

A terrifying clip of surveillance video from the Chinese side of the frontier shows a massive wall of mud and debris crashing over a building several stories high on Wednesday morning, engulfing it as dozens of people ran for their lives below. The surge swept away buses and cars like they were toys.

Many of the missing are foreign tourists, officials said of the disaster, which the US Geological Survey believes was caused by a glacial collapse that sent a flow of debris engulfing areas along the way.

The tsunami-like rumble of water and mud struck villages and towns on the path of two rivers — Bhote Koshi and Trishuli, with Nepali police saying they had recovered 162 bodies.

Another 823 people, including 579 Nepali and foreign tourists, remained out of contact in Nepal, according to the country’s disaster agency.

These included nearly 100 Chinese nationals, according to Beijing’s foreign ministry. The Chinese embassy was “seeking further verification” from Nepali authorities, ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

Later, about 100 missing Indian visitors and 25 Chinese workers were located by rescuers in Nepal, authorities said.

Across the border, Chinese state media said the “mudslide disaster” at the Gyirong Port in Tibet claimed three lives while 558 people, including 260 foreigners, were still missing.

Nepal police said they expected the death toll to rise beyond 165.

“This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered,” police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told Reuters.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah left by road for Bidur in one of the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot to assess the flood situation, his office said on social media.

Raju Bhadel, 56, a businessman in Nuwakot, recounted receiving a call from his brother-in-law in distress.

“They were crying and said their entire house had been swept away. Three family members were rescued, but his brother is still missing,” he said.

Also at Nuwakot, teacher Manok Mishra witnessed “nine trucks being swept away by the floods including people”.

‘Inland tsunami’

Rescuers waded through mud and sludge to look for survivors after floodwaters buried the lower floors of multi-storey buildings.

Among those hunting for their missing family members was Subash Khatani, who told AFP he was looking for his big brother.

“He is among the missing from Rasuwa. That’s why we are out to search for him,” he said.

Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 were from India, 63 were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

Others included tourists from Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and South Korea, Nepal’s tourism board said.

Hiking company Himalayan Glacier told AFP that 47 people from a group, including two children, were missing in Nepal.

“Our teams are checking hospitals where victims are coming in,” said the company’s director Sanket Pandey.

The sudden rush of mud and debris was “like an inland tsunami, travelling nearly 170 kilometres down the Bhote Koshi valley into Central Nepal”, said environmental historian Ruth Gamble of La Trobe University.

“It is a popular route for international tourists travelling from Kathmandu to Lhasa,” she added.

“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,” said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in a Nepali hospital.

“As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.”

A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. “My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud,” he added. “She’s gone.”

Another survivor said he saved himself by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.

Rasuwa, in the north of Nepal, was the first district to be affected. But deaths have been reported from seven Nepali districts in total as the floodwaters raged through to Chitwan in the south, on the border with India.

“There is devastation everywhere we look,” said Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa.

“The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”

The Nepali Army was carrying out flights and had rescued scores of people, while others living near the river in danger zones had been told to relocate.

China’s leader Xi Jinping said that “the most urgent task is doing everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people”, according to CCTV.

Tibet government officials mobilised nearly 800 emergency workers and 150 vehicles as well as sniffer dogs and speed boats to help the rescue efforts, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it was dispatching emergency supplies including blankets, first aid kits, stretchers and body bags.

“Entire villages and market areas have been wiped out,” said David Fisher, the Nepal head of IFRC.

The US State Department said it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500,000.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said details on the disaster were scant.

“Nepal … is a developing country,” he said. “It doesn’t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult.”

UN teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to support affected Nepali communities, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Glacial collapse

The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear in the hours after it occurred early on Wednesday, but the US Geological Survey said it was a glacial collapse that caused seismic activity and the “catastrophic” downstream impacts in Nepal and Tibet.

“This event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,” it said.

“Additional analysis of nearby seismic stations, long-period seismic waves, and satellite imagery led to the determination that the seismic event was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred.”

Climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risks of glacial lake floods and glacial collapses.

Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), warned of the potential for a second flood.

“With a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur,” he told AFP.

Many trekking companies were not running tours during the monsoon season, but there remain significant numbers of travellers, including pilgrims, in the region.

Experts cautioned that a lingering blockage in a river could produce an additional flood.

Among sites hit by the flood was Syabrubesi, the gateway to the popular trekking areas, as well as by pilgrims travelling to the base of Mount Kailash, a holy site for Buddhists and Hindus.

Traffic authorities in Tibet’s Shigatse said roads in the area were “at risk of mudslides and unsafe for passage”.

Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said that he was praying for all those killed in devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet.

“I pray for all those who have lost their lives, and offer my sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved and to all those affected by this tragedy,” he said in a statement.