Against the Rising Waters: Nepal’s Heroes Pull Survivors From Flood‑Ravaged Tunnels

It was a gray, uneasy morning in the hills of Nuwakot when the rescue team finally heard a faint thump from inside a collapsed house. The sound turned out to be the heartbeat of Chandrika Shrestha, a 64‑year‑old mother‑grandmother from Bidur Municipality‑10, who had been lying unconscious on the floor of her neighbor’s home.

Inspector Suman Bik of the Armed Police Force led a small crew that waded through knee‑deep water, broke down a battered wall and lifted the woman onto a stretcher. A waiting helicopter whisked her away to the Nepali Army’s Maithili Barracks in Trishuli, where medics gave her a quick assessment before arranging transport to Kathmandu for further care.

Just a few kilometres away, deep inside the tunnel of the 216‑MW Upper Trishuli 1 Hydropower Project in Rasuwa, another life hung by a thread. A Chinese national, part of the construction crew, had been trapped when flood‑induced landslides slammed the tunnel entrance. The Nepali Army, backed by a South Korean disaster‑expert team, fought through mud and darkness to pry open the tunnel’s Audit 4 section.

When the concrete finally gave way, the rescued worker emerged, coughing and shaking, but alive. He was also taken to the Maithili Barracks for medical evaluation. Both rescues are part of a wider, frantic effort to locate anyone still stranded in the network of hydropower tunnels that were suddenly turned into underground prisons after the floods.

The Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors have been devastated – bridges swept away, roads erased, and dozens of hydro‑projects crippled. According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal, 936 workers across 11 flood‑hit projects have lost contact, with the Upper Trishuli 1 site accounting for the biggest unknown‑headcount – 551 people.

Just yesterday, the army managed to pull two Nepali workers out of the tunnel at the 60‑MW Upper Trishuli 3A project, underscoring how each day brings fresh hope and fresh challenges. International expertise – from India, China and South Korea – is being pooled, turning the rescue operation into a collaborative, cross‑border humanitarian mission.

While the immediate focus is on saving lives, officials warn that the road to recovery will be long. The floods have exposed the vulnerability of Nepal’s growing hydropower infrastructure, prompting calls for better disaster‑ready designs. For now, families like Chandrika’s can breathe a little easier, grateful that a handful of brave rescuers chose to risk everything in the murky waters.