More than 900 people have been killed and hundreds remain missing after a catastrophic flood triggered by a glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border, leaving rescue teams racing to save workers trapped in blocked hydropower tunnels while families demand faster action.
Rescue teams from Nepal, India, China, and South Korea have spent days and nights trying to reach men believed to be stuck deep inside tunnels choked with mud, rock, and water after a sudden flood tore through the region. The disaster struck near the Trishuli River and Nepal’s Nuwakot district, hitting multiple hydropower projects and wiping out entire villages in its path.
The tragedy unfolded without warning when a glacier collapsed, unleashing a torrent of ice, debris, and mud that destroyed infrastructure and turned the area into a crisis zone. Authorities report that more than 900 are dead, over 4,200 are missing, and local officials estimate at least 933 people remain unaccounted for from 24 hydropower projects alone. The Red Cross has said more than 90,000 people could be affected.
Rescue efforts have faced enormous obstacles. Nepal’s Home Minister Sudan Gurung described how teams began “‘sending air through the small opening’” in tunnel walls to try to keep survivors alive. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said nearly 21,000 security personnel, along with volunteers and civilian workers, have joined the search, but the situation is dire. On Sunday night, Shah reported that when rescuers descended into tunnels using ropes and called out for any sign of life, “‘there was no response.’”
As workers drilled, blasted, and pumped air into the mud-filled passages, the Nepal Army warned that “‘a large amount of debris has been deposited and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels,’” stressing that “‘our main focus is on opening the tunnels.’” Despite these efforts, time is running out for those still trapped inside.
For the families of the missing, every moment counts. Sita Pandey, whose husband Jiblal was working in one of the tunnels, last spoke to him on Wednesday morning. “‘I still have a 50 per cent hope that he is alive because there is an oxygen system inside,’” she said, but added, “‘We can understand that the rescue operation is technically complex. But we cannot accept delays. Our people are inside there. For us, every second counts.’”
Kulman Gsising, a former head of many hydropower projects and Nepal’s former Energy Minister, had been at the scene to help coordinate rescue operations. He warned, “‘It’s impossible to say how long the workers will be able to survive because we just don’t know the condition of the tunnels. From our estimates, there are 300 workers inside six to eight tunnels. If there’s enough oxygen and food, they could be OK for several weeks. But from what I’ve seen so far, that’s not the case.’”
Gsising described the devastation: “‘The whole area has been destroyed and many villages and hydropower projects have been wiped off the face of the earth. I only got back to Kathmandu yesterday and will be returning very soon.’” He called the rescue “‘a desperate race against time.’”
Specialized teams from India, China, and South Korea have joined Nepali forces to tackle the most difficult rescues. At the Upper Trishuli-1 site, a Chinese team entered about 300 meters into a tunnel and recovered one body. Indian teams went 100 meters into another tunnel before finding it blocked, and two more bodies were recovered there. The scale of the disaster has made every rescue attempt dangerous and slow.
Controlled blasts, heavy machinery, air-pumping equipment, and floodlights have all been deployed. But bad weather and fears of additional flooding have repeatedly forced teams to suspend operations since Friday. The Nepal Army said it continued work on Monday morning to “‘clear water, mud, and sediment from inside the tunnel.’”
The loss goes far beyond the immediate human toll. According to the Nepal Electricity Authority, 11 hydropower stations and one solar station have stopped working, representing about 10 percent of Nepal’s installed electricity capacity. Twelve hydropower projects were totally destroyed, and 15 more under construction were damaged. The recovery is expected to cost roughly one-tenth of Nepal’s annual economic output.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing was making “every effort” to help search for missing people. China’s state broadcaster blamed “‘glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming’” for the disaster and called it a “‘new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters.’” Chinese authorities reported 16 dead and 546 missing in Gyirong County, just across the border, and said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were unaccounted for in Tibet near a busy border crossing with Nepal.
In May, Nepali and Chinese officials had met in Kathmandu to discuss joint monitoring and preparedness for floods, weather events, and glacier-related hazards. Hydrologist Sauhardra Joshi said that what Nepal needs is “if there are early movements of glaciers and early movements around that area, we would want to know a bit early.”
Prime Minister Shah called the flood an “‘unprecedented and devastating natural disaster’” and insisted “‘we are moving forward with determination to save the lives of our citizens.’” But for families like Sita Pandey’s, resolve is not enough when their loved ones are still missing and hope is slipping away.
As the rescue continues, the need for accountability and real-world solutions grows clearer. Disasters like this expose the limits of international summits, high-minded promises, and government statements. Real preparation and decisive action, not just words, are what save lives.
Disaster strikes without warning, but the difference between survival and tragedy often comes down to how willing leaders are to put their promises into action, before the next crisis hits.
