Two more rescued alive in Nepal
Two More Rescued Alive in Nepal as Day 10 Rescue Efforts Continue
Thebangladaily.com – Two more rescued alive in Nepal became the headline on the tenth day of the country's worst monsoon catastrophe in decades. Rescue crews confirmed the extraction of a 64-year-old woman trapped inside her collapsed home in Nuwakot district and a Chinese national sealed within a hydropower tunnel in the Gandaki basin. Both survivors were pulled free on Saturday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 1,342 while approximately 4,886 people remain missing from the August 26 floods and landslides.
"The probability of finding survivors drops sharply after the first 72 hours. What happened on day ten is extraordinary." — Army rescue coordinator
Extractions from Nuwakot and the Trishuli-1 Tunnel
Chandika Shrestha, 64, had been stranded on the fourth floor of her residence when monsoon-triggered slope failures buried the lower levels of the structure. Debris and structural collapse sealed every ground-level exit, leaving her in darkness for ten days with no confirmed access to food, water, or medical care. Search-and-rescue teams working by hand — heavy machinery cannot reach the terrain — methodically cleared rubble until they reached her and carried her out.
In a parallel operation, a Chinese national was extracted alive from a tunnel belonging to the Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project. He was immediately airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital. His survival marks the third person pulled alive from that worksite; two Nepali nationals had been recovered from the same tunnel on Friday. The Trishuli-1 installation, one of Nepal's largest planned hydropower schemes, sits along the Trishuli River where saturated Himalayan geology turned its tunnel network into a lethal environment of rising water, oxygen depletion, and total darkness.
Scale of Devastation and What Remains
The official figures — 1,342 confirmed dead and 4,886 missing, including foreign workers and travelers — place this event among the deadliest natural disasters in Nepal's recorded history. Entire communities in remote valleys and hillside settlements may be buried under tons of earth and rock, with no way yet to confirm whether anyone beneath the debris is still breathing. Nepal's position at the junction of the Indian monsoon system and the Himalayan orogeny means that intense rainfall meets steep, fractured terrain almost daily between June and September, turning ordinary slope instability into village-scale obliteration.
With day ten behind them, rescue authorities face a grim calculus. Most operations have shifted from active rescue to recovery and site stabilization, yet the army's confirmation of two more rescued alive in Nepal signals that teams have not abandoned the most promising structural voids. Helicopter assets will continue to shuttle personnel and supplies into valleys where roads have been washed away entirely. Satellite imagery and ground reports indicate additional slope failures remain possible in districts already saturated by weeks of rain, meaning the disaster-management apparatus will need sustained international logistical and medical support through the remainder of the monsoon season.
For the families of the thousands still unaccounted for, each new announcement carries the weight of ten days of unanswered questions. The two survivors pulled free on Saturday do not diminish the enormity of what has been lost, but they confirm that methodical, around-the-clock work in impossible terrain can still find a pocket of air where none seemed to remain.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people have been rescued alive from the Trishuli-1 tunnel? Three individuals have been confirmed alive from that worksite: two Nepali nationals extracted on Friday and one Chinese national pulled free on Saturday, day ten of the disaster.
Where was the 64-year-old woman trapped? Chandika Shrestha was stranded on the fourth floor of her home in Nuwakot district after monsoon-triggered landslides collapsed the lower structure and sealed all ground-level exits.
What is the current death toll and missing count? As of the tenth day, 1,342 deaths have been confirmed and approximately 4,886 people remain missing, a figure that includes foreign nationals working or traveling in the affected regions.
Can more survivors still be found? Rescue authorities acknowledge that the probability drops sharply after 72 hours, but teams continue targeting structural voids and trapped-air pockets where the geometry of the collapse still permits survival. International logistical and medical support will be required through the rest of the monsoon season.