Rescuers Continue Grim Search for Nepal Flood Survivors

The rescue of two hydropower workers after nine days trapped underground has given Nepal’s emergency teams fresh urgency as they dig through debris from the country’s worst flooding disaster. The men were found alive at the Trishuli 3A tunnel on Friday, covered in mud and in stable condition after being taken to hospital.

The pair were among hundreds of hydropower workers who disappeared when a tsunami-like wall of water and mud swept across the China-Nepal border on August 26. A vast collapse of glacial material and rock triggered the disaster, which destroyed at least 12 hydropower projects.

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We have been working since morning on search and rescue operations.

Nepal’s disaster agency said 1,294 bodies had been recovered and 5,053 people remained missing. In China, state media reported 31 deaths and 531 missing people, bringing the overall toll to 1,325 dead and 5,584 missing.

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We don’t have an update yet, but the work goes on.

“We have been working since morning on search and rescue operations,” Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP. Teams continued working at the tunnel where the two men were found, along with several other sites. “We don’t have an update yet, but the work goes on.”

Experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea are assisting Nepali teams in searching blocked tunnels. With morgues overflowing, Nepal Police said about 1,030 bodies had been buried in mass graves after officials collected DNA samples for possible identification by relatives. Prime Minister Balendra Shah promised safe and comfortable accommodation for thousands of displaced people living in temporary camps, acknowledging that camp life was difficult while pledging to help them rebuild their futures.

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We will once again create an environment where you can dream about and build your future.