Rescue teams have extracted three workers alive from buried hydropower tunnels in Nepal's Trishuli valley, including a Chinese national pulled from 225 metres inside the Upper Trishuli-1 project on Saturday. The recoveries come as authorities search for roughly 4,900 people still missing after the August 26 glacier collapse that killed over 1,300 and buried six hydropower plants under 2.2 million tonnes of debris.
A joint Nepali army and international team rescued Luhaitao from Audit Tunnel 4 at the Upper Trishuli-1 site, while a 60-year-old Nepali woman was pulled from a debris-buried house in Nuwakot. Engineers coordinating via a WhatsApp group of over 500 members have shared layout drawings and tunnel guidance to support the effort, though no survivors have yet been found at the 22 MW Chilime plant where eight remain trapped.
The disaster wiped out about 10% of Nepal's hydropower generation capacity, disrupting domestic supply and regional export flows. Rescue operations continue across a dozen flood-hit projects with support from Indian, Chinese, South Korean and US teams, though officials say the window for finding additional survivors is closing as debris stabilises and oxygen levels drop inside sealed tunnels.
Figures for the missing vary between reports, with one source citing about 900 people unaccounted for from six hydropower plants while another lists 4,900 missing nationwide. The death toll also differs, reported at 1,375 and 1,344 in separate updates, reflecting ongoing recovery efforts across affected districts.