Survivors Pulled from Flood-Ravaged Homes and Tunnels Revive Hope in Nepal
After more than a week of searching, a 64-year-old woman was rescued from a mud-filled house and a Chinese worker was saved from a deep tunnel, rekindling optimism amid Nepal's deadliest floods in a decade.
Flash floods that struck the Bhotekoshi river basin have killed 1,338 people and left almost 5,000 unaccounted for, prompting a massive search effort involving 21,465 security personnel from the Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force. On the eleventh day after the disaster, APF Inspector Suman BK's team heard faint sounds and pulled 64-year-old Chandika Shrestha from a house buried three and a half storeys deep in Betrawati, Nuwakot.
Simultaneously, the Nepali Army, aided by a specialised South Korean rescue team, rescued Chinese national Lu Haitao from 225 metres inside the Upper Trishuli-I Hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa. Earlier, two workers, Sanjay Shah and Kabir Maharjan, were recovered from 170 metres within the Upper Trishuli-3A tunnel. Tunnel expert Arnold Dix noted that underground survival times can exceed expectations. Despite the rescues, several family members of Shrestha remain missing, and officials continue to use drones and ground teams to locate additional victims.
Why it matters
The rescues demonstrate that lives may still be saved despite the massive death toll and missing persons from Nepal's worst flood disaster in ten years.
How this story developed
- Aug 27 Flash Floods from Glacial Collapse Leave Hundreds Dead and Thousands Missing on Nepal-Tibet Border
- Sep 1 Two victims identified and rescue operations reported to have saved about 80 people.
- Sep 2 South Rim hotels and lodges were ordered to close indefinitely because of the water outage.
- Sep 2 A scientific review released new findings on pre‑event signals in the glacier collapse.
- Sep 3 Families held symbolic funerals for missing victims.
- Sep 3 The storm made landfall on Fujian’s coast after earlier strikes on Zhejiang, leading to the suspension of dozens of ferry services and the closure of schools in Fuzhou and Quanzhou. Tourist sites such as theme parks in Fuzhou were also temporarily closed. The provincial emergency management authority warned of heavy rain, flash floods and landslides, while nearly a quarter-million residents in high-risk zones had been evacuated the previous week.
- Sep 3 Death toll rose above 1,270 and bodies recovered reached 1,252.
- Sep 3 Rescuers freed mechanical foreman Sanjay Shah and supervisor Kabir Maharjan from the Upper Trishuli 3A tunnel nine days after catastrophic floods swept the Nepal-China border region.
- Sep 3 Park officials said river‑gauge alarms stopped transmitting as the flood intensified.
- Sep 4 A third worker’s body was recovered and officials said about 39 people remain trapped.
- Sep 5 A Chinese worker was rescued from the Upper Trishuli-3A tunnel and is undergoing medical evaluation.
- Sep 5 A Canadian citizen missing after the floods was located safe.
- Sep 5 A 64‑year‑old Nepali woman was rescued from a mud‑filled home in Nuwakot.
- Sep 5 Authorities suspended 24 passenger ferry routes and closed Fuzhou theme parks.
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