10 Days Buried: Nepal Flood Survivor Found Alive as Thousands Remain Missing
In the middle of one of the deadliest disasters to hit the Himalayan region, a remarkable rescue has brought a rare moment of hope.
Chandika Kumari Shrestha, a woman from Nepal’s Betrawati village, was found alive after spending about 10 days trapped inside her collapsed four-storey home following devastating floods and mudslides. Her family had already begun mourning her, believing she had died in the disaster.
Rescuers discovered Shrestha after hearing a faint cry for help while searching through the heavily damaged area. Her house had been swept away and buried beneath thick layers of mud and debris. She survived inside a small pocket of air until rescuers were able to reach her.
The rescue operation took about 45 minutes. Emergency workers carefully dug through the hardened debris before reaching her and taking her to an army hospital for medical treatment.
A Rare Moment of Hope
Shrestha’s survival has become one of the most extraordinary stories to emerge from the disaster.
Betrawati is among the areas hardest hit by the floods. Much of the local market and residential buildings were buried under mud and debris, leaving rescue teams searching through collapsed structures for any possible signs of life.
Rescuers have been using shovels, excavators and whistles while working through dangerous and unstable areas. Even as the chances of finding survivors decline, the discovery of Shrestha has renewed hope that other missing people could still be alive.
Her rescue is not the only remarkable survival story. A Chinese hydropower worker, Lu Haitao, was also rescued after spending around 10 days trapped inside a tunnel in Nepal. Several other people have been pulled alive from tunnels and collapsed areas in recent days.
Thousands Still Missing
The dramatic rescue comes against the backdrop of an enormous humanitarian crisis.
The floods and mudslides were triggered after a glacial collapse on August 26, sending a destructive torrent of water, ice, rocks and mud through valleys along the Nepal–China border.
Official figures reported on September 6 put the combined death toll in Nepal and China’s Tibet region at roughly 1,385 to 1,387, while more than 5,500 people remained missing. Nepal alone has reported more than 1,300 deaths, with thousands still unaccounted for. More than 13,000 people have reportedly been rescued from affected areas.
The disaster has also destroyed homes, roads, bridges and critical infrastructure. At the Gyirong border crossing between Nepal and China, a once-busy trade and pilgrimage route was devastated by the mudslide.
The Search Continues
For rescue teams, Shrestha’s survival carries an important message: hope remains even after days of silence.
Search crews continue to examine collapsed buildings, tunnels and areas buried beneath enormous amounts of debris. Families across the region are still waiting for news about relatives who disappeared when the floods swept through their communities.
For Shrestha’s family, however, the story has taken an extraordinary turn. They had begun mourning her death. Then rescuers heard a voice beneath the ruins.
After days of devastation, that voice became a message of hope.
And as rescue operations continue across the Himalayan disaster zone, teams are still listening for another.
