Nepal flood toll surges to 939; search for trapped workers underway
Catastrophic flooding on the Nepal-China border has resulted in over 950 deaths and thousands of missing persons, with hundreds of workers trapped in hydropower tunnels. Rescue operations are ongoing as authorities struggle with the scale of the disaster caused by a glacial collapse.
Why it matters
The disaster underscores the extreme vulnerability of Himalayan infrastructure to climate-induced events and the challenges of large-scale rescue operations in remote terrain.
Rescuers raced to free hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in tunnels at hydropower sites that were buried in mud by catastrophic flooding on the Nepal-China border, as the combined deaths in both countries surpassed 950, with more than 4,400 people missing.
A private-sector association representing power companies said at least 900 workers were unaccounted for at 12 hydropower projects damaged by the flash floods in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. About 500 of those workers were believed to be trapped in tunnels. At least one expert said that some workers could have access to oxygen, but others warned that the chances of finding survivors were diminishing.
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