Rescuers continue grim search for Nepal flood survivor — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP on Saturday that search and rescue operations were underway at the Trishuli 3A tunnel and other sites, where at least 12 hydropower projects were destroyed by the floods.
- Two hydropower workers were pulled alive from debris on Friday after being trapped for nine days — a rescue officials called a "miracle" — with the government initially believing more than 100 workers could be alive inside multiple tunnels.
- The combined death toll reached 1,325 across Nepal (1,294 bodies recovered) and China (31 killed), with 5,584 people still missing, according to Nepal's disaster agency and Chinese state media.
- International experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea have been aiding Nepali rescuers in their search for survivors inside blocked tunnels.
- Nepal Police reported that some 1,030 bodies had been buried in mass graves after DNA samples were taken for future identification by family members, with morgues overflowing.
- Prime Minister Balendra Shah promised displaced residents living in temporary relief camps "safe and comfortable accommodation" in an emotional social media post late Friday.
Why it matters: With 1,325 confirmed dead and 5,584 still missing, the disaster has overwhelmed Nepal's morgue capacity, forcing mass burials with DNA sampling for future identification. The government now faces a dual burden: sustaining tunnel rescues — where officials still hold out hope for more survivors — and housing thousands displaced across at least 12 destroyed hydropower projects along the China-Nepal border.
Ask SkimNews
