Rescuers across Nepal are still working through landslides and flooded tunnels more than a week after a catastrophic flash flood swept through the Himalayan foothills, as the official death toll surpassed 1,000 and dozens of hydropower workers remained trapped underground.
A survivor’s account
One worker who escaped the tunnel complex told the BBC how he ran for roughly twenty minutes through rising water and debris before reaching higher ground. His account offers one of the few firsthand glimpses into what happened inside the tunnels when the floodwaters struck, and it underscores the chaotic conditions that have made the rescue effort so difficult.
Heavy monsoon rain caused a glacier-fed lake to burst its banks, sending a wall of water, mud and rock down into the watershed. The surge overwhelmed a hydropower project under construction and cut off access roads, leaving rescuers to rely on helicopters, drones and manual digging to reach survivors.
Why the death toll keeps climbing
Nepal’s remote topography is working against the rescue effort. Many of the affected villages sit in steep valleys with only narrow access routes, several of which have been washed away or blocked by fresh landslides. The tunnels themselves present a particular hazard: they are partially collapsed, filled with mud and still contain standing water that can concealed further bodies.
Two British teenagers are among the 33 UK nationals that authorities have confirmed missing in the disaster. The UK Foreign Office has been in contact with Nepali officials and is providing consular support to the families of those affected.
Why it matters
The disaster has exposed the human cost of rapid hydropower expansion in one of the world’s most seismically active and landslide-prone regions. Nepal has positioned hydropower as a strategic export industry, but critics have long warned that dam and tunnel projects in the Himalayas carry exceptional geological risk, particularly during the monsoon season.
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For the UK, the presence of missing nationals has turned a distant natural disaster into a live consular emergency. Families in Britain are still waiting for definitive news, and the scale of the rescue operation means answers may take weeks to emerge.
What happens next
Rescue teams from Nepal and China continue to work around the clock, with Chinese personnel and equipment deployed alongside Nepali forces. The priority is reaching the trapped workers before the monsoon window closes and winter sets in. Officials have warned that a second flood could still hit the region if more glacial lakes destabilise, complicating any extension of the operation.
The Nepali government has promised a full inquiry into the disaster, including the safety standards applied to the hydropower project. For now, though, the immediate focus remains on survival: pulling people out of the mud while the terrain still permits it.
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