Nepal rescuers reach trapped hydropower workers as flood death toll rises to 987
Rescuers in Nepal have reached remote flood-hit areas as nearly 300 workers were saved, while 639 remained trapped and about 4,000 people were missing.
Kathmandu, Nepal. Nepali rescuers built temporary bridges and searched the ruins of Himalayan hydropower projects to save close to 300 trapped workers, nearly a week after catastrophic floods devastated towns and valleys across the country. The death toll rose to 987, while about 4,000 people remained missing.
Hydropower rescue efforts
At least 639 people remained trapped at several devastated hydropower stations, which have become the focus of rescue operations, Nepal’s disaster management authority said on Tuesday.
More than 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said. Power and communication lines have also been restored in some areas.
The floods followed a glacier collapse that sent ice, rock and mud through Nepal’s impoverished border region with China, posing a major challenge for Shah’s six-month-old government.
Displacement and recovery operations
“Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, families, loved ones and property,” Shah said in a late-night social media post on Monday. “The government understands the immense pain they are enduring.”
A survivor from the hard-hit Rasuwa district said she walked to Nuwakot with scores of villagers who survived.
“We did not have the time to grab anything before fleeing,” she said. “What we were wearing is the only pair of clothes we have. And even they are wet from rain.”
Road links to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, have been restored, facilitating rescue operations and the distribution of relief supplies, Shah said.
Police official Bipin Regmi said search teams recovered 24 bodies from a house in Betrabati village in Nuwakot district.
“We are reaching new areas and recovering bodies,” Regmi told Reuters.
Chinese assistance
In China, rescue teams worked through the night to restore access to the Nepali border along a steep mountain gorge, where unstable cliffs overlook fast-flowing river channels.
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing would send DNA testing experts to disaster-hit areas on the Nepal-China border, along with a second batch of relief supplies on Tuesday. The equipment will include drones and water purification supplies.
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