Nepali rescuers looking for to achieve hydropower staff believed trapped in tunnels swamped by flood particles have resumed work after rain and rising river waters hampered efforts.
Nepal’s authorities says greater than 100 staff should be alive and trapped inside a number of tunnels at hydropower tasks, with key rescue efforts centered on the Trishuli 3A and 3B websites.
Beneficial Tales
checklist of three objectsfinish of checklist
Big flash floods triggered on Wednesday when a part of a glacier collapsed close to Nepal’s border with Tibet have left at the least 750 individuals useless and greater than 3,000 lacking.
Nepal’s Nationwide Catastrophe Threat Discount and Administration Authority says there are 933 hydropower staff among the many lacking.
At Trishuli 3A in Nepal’s Rasuwa District on Saturday night, military rescue groups utilizing drills broke by means of into the higher a part of a mud-swamped tunnel and started pumping air in addition to sending in a digital camera.
However in a single day rain and rising river waters hampered efforts early on Sunday, filling the excavation space with water earlier than circumstances eased.
“Because the floodwaters have receded, the staff has resumed efforts to find the tunnel entrance utilizing drilling machines, excavators, hydraulic cutters and different tools,” stated a Nepal Military assertion on Sunday.
Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, stated the federal government has requested specialist assist from India and China to “fill gaps” in its rescue operations.
“The federal government is making an attempt to provide it its greatest shot, bringing in these consultants to see if there’s any method or technique of bringing out anybody who remains to be alive,” she stated.
The disaster on Wednesday was triggered when a part of a glacier at roughly 5,200 metres excessive within the Himalayas collapsed, plunging about 1,200 metres and gathering rock and particles earlier than slamming into the Lende River.
The ensuing surge swept south by means of Nepal’s Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts, at one level elevating the Trishuli River by 9 metres in half-hour. The US Geological Survey revised its preliminary discovering of an earthquake set off, concluding the seismic sign as a substitute got here from the landslide itself.
![A woman waiting to identify her husband rests her head on a chair outside a temporary holding centre, where the bodies of victims are kept following devastating flash floods and a mudslide, in Bharatpur, Nepal August 30, 2026 [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026-08-30T035035Z_968261487_RC2R8NAQL6OD_RTRMADP_3_NEPAL-FLOODS-1788064160.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C523&quality=80)
Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from Dhading, stated the river had receded on Sunday, however the present remained robust.
She stated the floodwaters had destroyed many houses, abandoning solely the foundations. These nonetheless standing are “in a state of full disrepair,” she stated.
“Talking to some residents, this [disaster] represents not solely the destruction of their houses, however their livelihoods as nicely as a result of most of the residents instructed us that they’d small shops and small companies within the backside flooring of their houses and all of their merchandise – every little thing – has been utterly washed away.”
Nepal’s Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority stated on Sunday that 734 our bodies had been recovered. The variety of lacking on the Nepalese facet of the border is at the least 2,498.
Chinese language authorities have reported that the dying toll in Tibet has elevated to 16, with 546 individuals lacking. Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, stated 261 foreigners from 23 nations are amongst these unaccounted for.
International locations pledge assist
Worldwide help has arrived from the United Nations, the Purple Cross Federation, Australia, India, South Korea and the US.
The US and Canada stated they would supply $3.6m every in humanitarian help. The UK has supplied $6.8m in help, whereas the UN launched $2.5m in emergency funding.
On Friday, the European Union pledged $2.3m and the Worldwide Federation of Purple Cross and Purple Crescent Societies (IFRC) stated it had allotted greater than $1m and launched an emergency attraction for $31m.
Al Jazeera’s Samer Allawi stated authorities “haven’t but moved to the second section of reduction operations, which incorporates humanitarian help and reopening roads”, due to “the rugged terrain and the shortage of ample sources”.
He stated that Nepal’s finance minister estimated losses from the catastrophe at “greater than $4bn”, whereas warnings stay in place over potential flooding alongside rivers in northern Nepal.
