Nepal Flood Rescue Efforts Continue Amid National Mourning

Nepali rescuers are continuing to search hydropower tunnels for workers missing after catastrophic floods struck the Himalayan border with China on August 26. Around 900 people remain unaccounted for from hydro-electric projects in Nepal, and army officials estimate that about 121 may be trapped inside tunnels. Rescuers believe some could still be alive because the extensive tunnel systems contain air pockets, rooms and other spaces where people might have survived. The search gained hope after four people were rescued in recent days, including a Chinese national found in a tunnel, two hydropower workers recovered from another tunnel and a Nepali woman pulled from a buried house. Authorities are using specialised equipment and new techniques to search the Chilime hydropower project in Rasuwa district, where four of six missing workers may still be alive. The disaster has killed at least 1,380 people, while more than 5,500 remain missing across Nepal and Tibet, including 35 Australians. It began when a glacial collapse sent mud and rock into a river, triggering floods that destroyed communities and buried roads and highways. China has reported recovering 12 additional bodies in Tibet and has faced criticism from families of missing foreign visitors seeking information. Australia will send a 15-person Disaster Assistance Response Team, including specialist drone operators from Fire and Rescue New South Wales and the Queensland Fire Department, to support mapping and imaging during Nepal’s search operations. Nepal marked the 13th day after the disaster, traditionally the final day of mourning in Hindu rites, with flags at half-mast. However, no wider government ceremonies were planned because rescue efforts were continuing. President Ram Chandra Paudel visited affected areas, while Prime Minister Balendra Shah reported that security personnel had saved 923 prisoners from a flooded jail in Nuwakot and later recaptured 50 who escaped during the disaster.

Nepal observed a national day of mourning on Monday for at least 1,287 people killed in a devastating flash flood believed to have been caused by a glacial collapse. The disaster swept through villages in a Himalayan valley along the Nepal-Tibet border, and more than 5,000 people remain missing in Nepal nearly two weeks later. China has reported 31 deaths and 531 missing on the Tibetan side. Flags were flown at half-mast at government offices and diplomatic missions, while people held candlelight vigils and marked the final day of a traditional 13-day mourning period. However, official commemorations were limited because rescue and search operations are continuing. Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Paudel visited affected areas, while the National Emergency Operation Centre said no government programmes would be held during the ongoing response. Rescue teams are searching by land, air and inside tunnels, including tunnels at hydropower stations where many workers are still unaccounted for. Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said the operation was continuing with the same intensity as on its first day and that teams were working to ensure no one remained trapped. Four people have been rescued in recent days, including three from hydropower facilities or tunnels. A 64-year-old woman was found alive on the fourth floor of her partially buried home in Nuwakot district more than 10 days after the disaster. She was rescued by Nepal’s Armed Police Force and taken to a hospital in Kathmandu. Chinese rescuers also recovered 12 bodies near the border. An Australian tunnel-rescue expert advising Nepalese teams said rescuers were facing several dangerous operations simultaneously, but that lives might still be saved.

Nepal observed an official day of mourning on Monday for victims of the Aug. 26 floods, which killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left about 5,000 missing, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency. The mourning day marked the 13th day after the disaster, the traditional end of a Hindu mourning period. Government offices lowered their flags to half-staff, while families completed religious rituals and, in some cases, held symbolic funerals for relatives whose bodies had not been recovered. At the same time, search-and-rescue operations continued, with relatives criticizing the government for what they described as an inadequate response. In Kathmandu, families gathered outside government offices to demand faster efforts to find hundreds of people who were working at hydropower projects when they were swept away by the Bhotekhoshi River or buried under debris. Sumana Shrestha said her husband, a consulting geologist, disappeared after reporting for work at the Trishuli hydropower plant, where a two-and-a-half-story office was buried. Another protester said authorities did not send even a small excavator to the site until nearly a week after the floods. Rescue teams are concentrating on 12 hydropower projects, where approximately 900 workers are missing and about 500 are believed to be trapped in tunnels. Specialized teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States are searching damaged structures, debris and tunnels. Two Nepalese workers were rescued from one plant on Friday, followed by the rescue of a Chinese worker on Saturday. Candlelight vigils were also held in Kathmandu to honor those killed.