Nepal rescues two survivors from floods ten days after disaster

Rescuers in Nepal pulled two survivors from debris in separate operations, offering a glimmer of hope amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis following catastrophic flash floods near the Nepal-Tibet border.

According to NBC News, the male survivor was extracted from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project located in Rasuwa, roughly 225 meters inside the subterranean structure. The operation was carried out jointly by Nepalese military personnel and specialized South Korean disaster experts, as reported by CBS News. Audio shared by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV detailed how the worker repeatedly shouted whenever he caught sight of rescue lights, though crews initially could not hear him over the roar of debris and structural damage.

Media additions

When rescue workers finally reached him, the man expressed sheer disbelief. When they rescued me today, when they shone (the light) before my eyes, I couldn't believe it, he said, according to audio broadcast by Yahoo News. Following his extraction, an army medic monitored his condition during a helicopter evacuation, and medical assessments confirmed he was in stable condition at a hospital, as noted by Aol.

Concurrently, in the flood-battered Nuwakot district, a separate team located a second survivor. Identified by local reports cited by The Hindu as 60-year-old Chandika Shrestha, she was found unconscious on the upper floor of a four-storey house buried in debris in Bidur Municipality-10. A nine-member Armed Police Force team carried out the extraction, offering her bottled water before wrapping her in a gray blanket and airlifting her to the Nepali Army's Maithili Barracks for initial treatment.

These operations form part of a broader, intensive search effort spanning 12 hydropower projects across Nepal. Authorities estimate that approximately 900 workers went missing across these infrastructure sites, with roughly 500 believed trapped in subterranean tunnels. Specialized international teams from India, China, South Korea, and the United States have deployed alongside domestic personnel to comb through the wreckage, as detailed by ABC News.

The disaster, which struck on Aug. 26, was triggered by what authorities believe was a catastrophic glacier collapse. Government officials have mobilized nearly 21,500 security personnel to accelerate relief efforts, with nearly 12,000 people successfully rescued to date and over 5,000 receiving medical treatment for injuries, officials said.

The U.S. State Department reported that about 70 Americans remain unaccounted for in the border region, though 17 affected citizens have reached safety. Meanwhile, Chinese state media documented additional casualties and missing persons north of the border in Tibet.

Nepal's Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina expressed hope that further survivors would be located in the coming days, writing on his Facebook page that authorities are eagerly waiting to pull more people from the rubble.