Nepal Floods Live: Fresh Flood Risk Warning As Border Region Turns To ‘Swampland’

Two men have been rescued alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal’s Trishuli valley nine days after flash floods struck the Nepal-Tibet border region.

The men have been named as mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah and mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan.

A third person was found dead inside the tunnel as rescue teams continue trying to reach others still trapped at the Trishuli 3A hydropower site.

Rescuers have been pumping oxygen into the space and were able to tell those trapped inside that teams were working to reach them.

Sah was carried out on the back of a worker to a rescue tent, with footage showing him walking and talking while receiving support at the scene.

Maharjan was pulled from a hole in the ground and placed on a stretcher before being airlifted to hospital in Kathmandu.

An aide to Nepal’s energy minister told Reuters that Sah’s injuries are not critical, but Maharjan cannot move his hands and legs.

Maharjan’s brother, Amir Maharjan, said he had not received official confirmation but had been told to go to the hospital.

“The entire family is very happy,” he said.

Nepal’s disaster agency said 1,287 bodies have been recovered across the country so far, while an estimated 5,083 people remain missing.

A British man is among 119 people rescued in Nepal today as search teams continue working nearly a week after deadly floods hit the country and neighbouring Tibet.

The Nepali Army said the unidentified British citizen was rescued using air resources.

An army spokesperson said 118 Nepalese citizens were also rescued during the same operation, including 44 women and 74 men.

Speaking from Bidur army camp in Trishuli Nuwakot district, the spokesperson said: “Massive work has been going on in the tunnel, all the tunnels.”

The rescue comes after previous reports that 33 British nationals were missing in Nepal following the floods.

More than 600 workers are believed to be trapped in a network of mud-filled tunnels at hydropower sites along the Trishuli River.

Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah said on Monday that 279 people had been rescued from the hydropower sites.

The operation involves Nepalese and Chinese military personnel, with experts from India, Korea and Australia also assisting.

Nepal’s Tourist Board said on Tuesday that 330 foreign nationals had been rescued in total.

A UK rapid deployment team arrived in Nepal on Saturday to support British nationals and their families, working alongside the British embassy and local authorities.

The floods hit Rasuwa, north of Kathmandu, early on Wednesday.

The US Geological Survey said a magnitude 5.2 seismic event near the border was generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow.

Nepali authorities are blasting into hillsides as part of a major effort to reach hundreds of workers feared trapped inside hydropower tunnels after last week’s floods.

At least 933 workers are feared missing in tunnels across hydropower sites, with many believed to be inside the Trishuli-3A hydropower site in Rasuwa district.

Officials fear a critical window may be closing to rescue any survivors trapped underground.

A controlled blast was carried out at the hydropower site at about 2am on Monday in an attempt to open up access.

The operation follows an update from the prime minister’s office on Sunday, which said rescue efforts had been “intensified” at the site, including blasting operations.

Two excavators have also been used to dig a hole around 10 metres deep.

The Nepali army said work is under way to clear water, mud and debris inside the Trishuli-3A tunnel.

Nepal’s disaster agency said 191 survivors were rescued from tunnels on Friday, with a further 88 rescued on Saturday.

Survivors of the deadly floods near the Nepal-Tibet border have shared stories of relief and survival as rescue crews continue working around the clock.

In Nuwakot, the head teacher of a school told BBC Nepali how he evacuated 900 pupils to safety after receiving a series of phone calls warning that floods were approaching the area.

One pupil, 16-year-old Yunisha, said she and her friends survived “by just 10 seconds”.

Her mother, Sabina Shrestha, described the fear of waiting for news and the relief she felt when her daughter returned home three days later.

In Kathmandu, a five-year-old girl who was rescued on Friday, two days after the devastating flash floods, has been reunited with her parents in hospital.

Staff at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu said the girl, identified as Manisha, is in a stable condition.

The stories of survival have emerged as the scale of destruction in Nepal continues to grow five days after the floods.

Police say more than 790 people have been killed, while the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority says at least 2,502 people remain missing.

Search and rescue efforts have been intensified at Nepal’s Trishuli-3A hydropower site, where rescuers are trying to reach people believed to be trapped near a tunnel after the deadly floods.

Nepal’s prime minister’s office said a joint team of 90 people has been deployed, including armed forces, police and rescuers with trained dogs.

Officials said blasting operations are now being used as teams work in difficult and risky conditions.

A 2ft by 3ft hole was earlier created in the crown of the tunnel, allowing rescuers to descend on ropes.

The prime minister’s office said rescuers called out after entering the tunnel area but “received no response from inside”.

Operations are continuing around the clock as teams try to reach those still missing.

Hundreds of the more than 2,500 people missing after the floods are believed to be workers from Nepal’s hydropower sites.

Separately, officers from the Armed Police Force have been transporting some of the bodies recovered after the disaster to a mass burial site in Devghat.

More than 800 people have now died across Nepal and Tibet after devastating floods struck the border region, according to the latest official updates.

Nepali police said at least 788 bodies have been recovered in Nepal.

The latest breakdown lists 264 bodies recovered in Chitwan, 194 in Nawalparasi East, 120 in Nawalparasi West, 58 in Gorkha, 52 in Nuwakot, 50 in Dhading, 37 in Tanahun and 13 in Rasuwa.

Officials in Tibet have said 16 people were killed in the floods, bringing the combined death toll across Nepal and Tibet to 804.

More than 2,500 people remain missing in Nepal, while about 550 are still missing in Tibet.

Among those unaccounted for are 48 Britons, including 33 reported missing in Nepal and 15 in Tibet.

The number of bodies recovered after the Nepal floods has risen to 794, according to the latest update from Nepal Police.

Police said the figure had increased as of 17:45 local time on Sunday, which is 13:00 BST.

In a separate update, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 781 people had been killed, while 2,502 remain missing.

Official figures have continued to vary as information comes in from multiple agencies involved in the disaster response.

Rescue and recovery operations are continuing after flash floods and landslides struck the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday.

Hundreds of foreign nationals remain missing after deadly floods struck Nepal’s border region, with tourists and pilgrims from several countries still unaccounted for.

Nepal attracts visitors from across the world for its mountains and sacred sites, including routes linked to Himalayan trekking and pilgrimage travel.

India’s foreign ministry says at least 320 Indian nationals are missing, while China’s foreign ministry says nearly 100 Chinese nationals remain unaccounted for in Nepal.

The US State Department says 90 Americans are still missing, while Nepalese police say 62 Ukrainian nationals are missing.

Officials also said 51 Malaysians travelling with Fishtail Tours and Travels are missing, while 41 Australians are unaccounted for, according to Australia’s assistant immigration minister.

Nepal’s police say 33 British nationals are missing. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has also reported that 15 British nationals are among those missing in Tibet, although it is unclear how many are included in Nepal’s figure.

Canada’s foreign ministry says 30 Canadians are missing.

Smaller numbers of travellers from South Korea, South Africa, Portugal, the Netherlands and New Zealand are also among those still unaccounted for.

A school principal in Nepal has been credited with saving the lives of more than 1,600 children after ordering pupils and buses away moments before his school was washed away by a landslide.

Rajendra Dawadi, 47, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in the Trishuli valley of north-central Nepal, received a phone call on Wednesday morning warning him that a village five miles upstream had been taken by the river.

Around 900 children had already arrived at the school, while another 700 were on their way by foot and bus.

Mr Dawadi was then warned by a parent that water was rising quickly towards the school, which stood around 200ft above the river.

Realising the danger, he began calling bus drivers who were travelling towards the school and ordered them to turn back. He managed to reach all but one of the drivers.

The school was later washed away as devastating landslides and flash floods struck Nepal.

Nepal’s Tourism Board says 261 foreign nationals have now been rescued following the deadly floods, while 320 remain unaccounted for.

In its latest update, officials said the largest group of rescued foreign nationals were from India, with 167 people brought to safety.

The board said 40 Chinese nationals, eight Ukrainians, four Germans, four Maltese, three Americans and two nationals each from Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey had also been rescued.

One person each from Belgium, Bulgaria, Oman and Portugal has also been rescued.

Officials said 21 rescued people have not yet been identified by nationality.

Rescue operations are continuing into the night in Nepal after weather conditions improved on day four of the response to the deadly flash floods.

Search and rescue efforts had been temporarily halted earlier because of rain and fog in Rasuwa district, but police said teams resumed work in the afternoon after some improvement in the weather allowed helicopters to fly again.

The risk of a lake overflow near the Nepal-China border has also eased, according to Chinese authorities and state broadcaster CCTV.

Satellite images reportedly showed water slowly draining from the lake, reducing its size, with parts of the lake bed becoming visible. The overflow risk had previously forced rescue work to be paused.

Rescuers are also trying to reach more than 100 people believed to be trapped in a tunnel filled with thick mud at the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project construction site.

Nepali Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said the operation remains difficult because of 4 to 5 feet of mud and limited helicopter landing areas.

Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said rescuers had drilled a hole into the top of the blocked tunnel and started pumping air inside.

He said the plan is to enlarge the hole into a manhole, with rescue efforts expected to continue throughout the night.

Authorities are also continuing efforts to recover and identify bodies, but officials have warned that the condition of some victims is making identification difficult.

Rescue efforts have entered their fifth day after flash floods devastated the Nepal-Tibet border region, with Nepalese authorities putting the death toll at 675.

Nepal’s disaster response agency said more than 7,500 people have been rescued, while nearly 2,500 remain missing and 219 have been injured.

The tourism board said 250 foreign nationals have been rescued, but 320 remain unaccounted for.

In Nuwakot district, anxious crowds have gathered as families wait for news of missing loved ones, while search teams continue efforts at the Trishuli-3 ‘A’ hydropower site.

Rescuers are hoping to find survivors in tunnels buried beneath mud after the floods tore through the area.

One man who travelled from Sussex to Nepal with his father said his wife, mother, uncle and brother are missing, and that the site where his village once stood is now entirely under water.

Amid the devastation, there have also been moments of hope, including the reunion of a mother with her eight-year-old son, who survived by climbing a tree to escape the flood.

Families in Nepal are being asked to identify victims from graphic photographs posted outside a mortuary in Kathmandu, as authorities struggle to identify bodies recovered after the devastating floods.

Pictures of recovered bodies have been placed on both sides of the mortuary’s outdoor gates so relatives can check whether their missing loved ones are among the dead.

The images include people photographed inside the mortuary and at the locations where they were found, including children and infants.

Relatives have been seen holding up mobile phones and trying to compare the photos with images of missing family members, but some have said they still cannot tell whether there is a match.

The identification effort comes as thousands of people have been rescued, while the number of casualties continues to rise.

In Nuwakot district, one of the hardest-hit areas, anxious families have gathered at an army base where helicopters involved in the rescue operation are landing.

Crowds have formed near the edge of a field as relatives wait for news of those still missing.

Among them was the family of Kulbahadur Tamang, who travelled from Kathmandu to Nuwakot to ask police whether there had been any update on his whereabouts.

At least 2,426 people remain missing four days after a devastating glacier collapse triggered flash floods across the region.

A barrier lake formed after the Nepal flash floods is draining naturally and has been largely cleared, according to Chinese state media.

Chinese Central TV reported that the lake is draining on its own, citing a hydrological monitoring team from China’s Ministry of Water Resources.

The lake had formed after debris from the flash floods created a natural blockage, raising fears of secondary mudslides or landslides.

Professor Liz Stephens, an expert in Climate Risk and Resilience at the University of Reading, said water levels appeared to have started falling on Friday, suggesting some of the water had escaped naturally rather than through human intervention.

She said that was “very promising” because it reduced the immediate threat and could reduce the need for an engineering operation to drain the lake artificially.

However, she warned that the debris forming the dam remains unstable, adding that the flood had “enormous erosional power” and may have left behind a dangerous landscape.

Stephens said continued monitoring for further landslides remains critically important.

Police in Nepal say 668 bodies have now been recovered after the deadly floods, as authorities continue to search for around 2,500 people still missing.

The latest police update gave a district-by-district breakdown of recovered bodies, with the highest number recorded in Chitwan, where 248 bodies have been found.

Police said 158 bodies had been recovered in Nawalparasi East, 65 in Nawalparasi West, 54 in Gorkha, 49 in Dhading, 49 in Nuwakot, 31 in Tanahun and 13 in Rasuwa.

The listed district figures amount to 667 bodies, and it is not yet clear where the remaining person was found.

Rescue and recovery efforts are continuing across areas devastated by the floods, with officials warning that thousands of people remain unaccounted for.

Bodies are arriving “continuously” at a morgue in Nepal following the deadly flash floods, an official has said, as authorities struggle with the scale of the disaster.

Kuman Singh Gurung, Kaski’s chief district officer, told Reuters that bodies had been received from multiple locations, including nine from Tanahun, 27 from Nawalparasi East and 20 from Dhading districts. Kaski is in Gandaki Province, west of the main disaster zone.

The death toll from Wednesday’s floods has risen to at least 626, with officials in another district saying hundreds of bodies are no longer identifiable.

Speaking earlier at a press conference, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the country had asked foreign governments and international institutions to provide freezers to help preserve bodies until families can be located. “Unfortunately, our capabilities are low,” he said.

A UK rapid deployment team is due to arrive in Nepal today to support British nationals affected by the deadly floods and assist families searching for missing relatives.

More than 30 UK nationals are among thousands of people still missing after the disaster, which has left rescue teams working across remote and badly damaged areas.

The team, made up of specially trained crisis response staff, will work alongside the British embassy in Kathmandu and local authorities.

Officials said the team will help coordinate assistance for British nationals arriving at and departing from the airport, support those seeking information about missing relatives, liaise with local authorities and emergency responders, and reinforce consular operations on the ground.

The deployment forms part of the UK’s wider response to the Nepal flooding, which includes a £5m support package for relief and recovery efforts.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said: “The scenes from Nepal are devastating, and our thoughts remain with everyone affected.

“The safety and welfare of British nationals is our top priority. That is why we are deploying a Rapid Deployment Team to Nepal to provide additional support on the ground for British nationals and their families at what is an incredibly difficult time.”

Nepal’s foreign minister has said the country remains on high alert for further flooding, as search and rescue teams struggle to reach areas where floodwaters have turned parts of the terrain into “swampland”.

Shisir Khanal said Nepal’s “immediate priority” is to locate the missing and provide urgent relief after the deadly floods left thousands unaccounted for and devastated communities near the border region.

Speaking at a press briefing, Khanal said 4,451 people have been rescued, including 187 foreign nationals.

He said search and rescue teams, medical teams and emergency responders are working together in affected areas, while authorities are coordinating with families to help identify those still missing. Diplomats are also facilitating communication with the families of missing foreign nationals.

Khanal appealed to the public to rely on “official verified information” as the scale of the disaster continues to unfold.

He said the risk of secondary flooding is being monitored and that the affected region remains on “high alert”.

The foreign minister said some of the hardest-hit areas can only be reached by helicopter, but parts of the terrain have become so waterlogged that helicopters are unable to land.

He added that Nepal is seeking support for tunnel rescue operations, with two additional Chinese teams expected to assist.

Thirty-three Britons are among hundreds of tourists still missing after deadly flooding in Nepal, as relatives wait for information on loved ones feared to have been caught in flash floods near the Nepal-China border.

Nepal’s tourism board said 420 tourists are among around 2,500 people reported missing after the disaster. It said 184 tourists have been rescued, while three others are in contact with authorities.

Those still unaccounted for include British nationals who had travelled to Nepal and Tibet for pilgrimages, including groups heading towards Mount Kailash, a sacred Hindu site.

Among the missing are 18-year-old Spandan Sahu and his 13-year-old sister Syna Kumari Sahu, who were travelling with their parents, Santosh Sahu and Surabhi Manmath Padhy. Their last known location was reported to be near the Rasuga border while travelling with trekking firm Alpine Trek.

Mala and Bipin Patel are also missing after travelling to the Nepal and Tibet region on a pilgrimage. Their son, Anant Patel, said border logs appeared to show they had crossed from Nepal into Tibet shortly before the floods struck, and appealed for Chinese authorities to act on information about their possible location.

Hema Amin and her sister Hemangini Patel are also unaccounted for after flying from London to Nepal on Saturday evening. Hema’s husband, Sunil Amin, said the family had been unable to get clear answers because of the remote location and scale of the devastation.

Other missing Britons include Pavan and Kavita Haldia, who were part of a South London pilgrimage group. Their son, Prajval Haldia, said the lack of information had left relatives feeling anxious, worried and helpless. Nepal’s tourism board said the missing tourists include 114 people from India, 27 from China, 20 from South Korea and three from the United States.