KATHMANDU: Nepal’s rescue teams, helped by Chinese and Indian experts, stepped up efforts on Monday to reach hundreds of people believed to be stuck inside blocked hydropower project tunnels in the aftermath of last week’s Himalayan flood.

The unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris carved a trail of destruction in the country’s valley towns and villages, as well as across the border in China, on Wednesday, killing more than 900 people, with nearly 5,000 still missing.

A glacier collapse is thought to have triggered the disaster. Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, have been buried in shallow graves as they began decomposing in the humid weather in the plains of the Himalayan country after being swept down the mountains by the torrent.

933 workers believed to be trapped at 11 hydropower projects after floods

Controlled blasts

Nepali officials said that the focus was on reaching the 933 workers believed to be trapped at 11 hydropower projects, including many who were working in about half a dozen tunnels, in the two hard-hit districts of Rasuwa and Nuwakot.

Pictures and videos shared by rescue teams showed earth-moving equipment digging and shovelling mud and rocks under lights in the dark of the night as workers watched. Soldiers used torchlight in a big pit they had created to look for space to get into one tunnel.

The Nepali army said search-and-rescue teams were using controlled blasts, excavators and searchlights to clear water and mud and reach trapped people. Teams recovered three bodies after entering two tunnels, while other sections remained buried in mud and were still being searched, it said.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2026