Nepal teams seek hundreds trapped in hydropower tunnels after deadly floods

Nepal teams seek hundreds trapped in hydropower tunnels after deadly floods.

Key points

• On Monday, Nepali authorities remarked 903 residents had died, with 4, 247 missing, including the 933 at hydropower projects.
• Beijing has remarked 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were unaccounted for in Tibet, near a key border crossing with Nepal.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a visit to Kyrgyzstan, remarked Beijing is making every effort to search for missing residents after the disaster, Xinhua noted on Monday.
• According to Nepal's disaster management authority, 933 residents were missing from hydropower projects in the flood-hit region.
• Prime Minister Balendra Shah remarked the flood was an unprecedented and devastating natural disaster and it remained challenging to compile a complete assessment of the damage.

Nepal teams seek hundreds trapped in hydropower tunnels after deadly floods. Reuters Published August 31, 2026 Updated August 31, 2026 12: 17pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

Nepal's rescue teams, supported by Chinese and Indian experts, worked overnight to reach hundreds of residents believed to be stuck inside blocked hydropower project tunnels in the aftermath of last week's Himalayan flood that carved a trail of destruction in the country's valley towns and villages as well as throughout the border in China.

In practice, the unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday, blamed on a glacier collapse, killed more than 900 individuals and almost 5, 000 are still missing.

Hundreds of bodies, plenty of 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.

According to Nepali authorities, the focus was on reaching the hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside regarding half a dozen hydropower project tunnels that had been blocked by mud and rock debris.

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

According to Nepal's disaster management authority, 933 residents were missing from hydropower projects in the flood-hit region. The Red Cross has estimated that more than 90, 000 individuals are probable to have been affected by the disaster. It china has linked to the effects of climate change.

On Monday, Nepali authorities remarked 903 residents had died, with 4, 247 missing, including the 933 at hydropower projects. On the Chinese side, authorities remarked 16 residents were killed in Gyirong County and 546 were missing. Complete assessment of damage challenging, Nepal PM notes.

"A large amount of debris has been deposited, and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels, " Nepal army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet informed Reuters. Our main focus is on opening the tunnels.

Despite the adverse weather, tough terrain and continuing risks, we are moving forward with determination to save the lives of our citizens, he stated in a Facebook post late on Sunday, adding that almost 21, 000 security personnel were involved in the rescue operations, besides civilian workers and volunteers.

China's state-run CCTV documented Beijing has mobilised more than 2, 100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan to backing relief efforts and has been airdropping equipment and supplies to frontline rescuers while its soldiers applied life-detection equipment to look for the missing. Risk from lakes and landslides.

According to Although Nepal has, it does not need foreign assist in general rescue and search, it has leaned on giant neighbours India and China for their expertise in tunnel rescue.

Rescue operations have been suspended a number of times since Friday as of bad weather and reservations that a lake formed throughout the Nepal-China border by the disaster could trigger fresh flooding after it began overflowing into Nepal's rivers.

According to China's state television CCTV, another lake formed upstream by a landslide had largely drained as water flowed out naturally.

For context, the landslide occurred 2.8 km downstream from the first lake formed by debris of the glacier collapse.

Authorities are now monitoring an impact crater carved out near the site of the glacier collapse on the Nepalese side. It had expanded to 174, 000 square metres by Saturday evening, state media remarked.

In practice, the crater had an estimated reservoir of 2.5 million cubic metres. It if breached, could lead to a chain reaction to lakes further downstream, authorities cautioned.

As investigators identified eight high-risk locations for geological disasters, CCTV remarked there is risk of further landslides along the river that could create further lakes.

For context, the flood was "caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming", the state broadcaster documented, saying it was a "new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters" on the Tibetan plateau.

Two Nepali authorities informed Reuters that China had not shared much information on glacier risks and water levels after a gathering to strengthen cooperation earlier this year, and they feared that a lack of data sharing could hamper future disaster preparedness. China's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the session.

For now, nepal teams seek hundreds trapped in hydropower tunnels after deadly floods remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.