KATHMANDU: Rescue teams have intensified the search for workers missing from flood-hit hydropower projects in Nepal, with operations concentrating on tunnels where underground rooms and air pockets could offer a chance of survival.

Around 900 workers remain unaccounted for across affected hydropower facilities. Nepal Army rescuers now estimate that approximately 121 may have been inside tunnels when the August 26 disaster struck, while others could have been working elsewhere at power-station sites.

Chilime operation enters a critical stage

At the Chilime hydropower project in badly affected Rasuwa district, four of six missing workers could still be alive, according to a lawmaker involved in the rescue effort. Teams have obtained specialised equipment and identified techniques needed to enter and clear difficult sections of the tunnel.

Photographs from the site show rescue personnel wearing helmets and protective clothing as they manually remove thick mud from the tunnel floor. Unstable rock, standing water, limited ventilation and deep deposits of sediment continue to make the operation dangerous.

Four people have been found alive in recent operations: two Nepali hydropower workers, a Chinese national rescued from a tunnel and a Nepali woman recovered from her mud-buried home. Those rescues have kept hope alive, even as the chances of finding more survivors diminish with time.

Families demand faster searches

Relatives of missing hydropower employees gathered in Kathmandu to demand faster operations and clearer communication from authorities. Some families said heavy machinery reached particular sites only several days after roads, bridges and access routes were destroyed.

Rescue teams from Nepal are being supported by specialists from India, China, South Korea and the United States. Nepal has also requested high-capacity drones, Bailey bridges, DNA-testing kits, tunnel-rescue suits and epidemic-prevention supplies from the international community.

Betrawati’s surviving buildings stand in a field of mud

In Betrawati, Nuwakot district, the flood transformed residential areas into a wide expanse of hardened grey sediment. Aerial images show isolated houses surrounded by mud, with roads, smaller structures and familiar landmarks swept away or buried.

Residents have returned to higher ground to survey the wreckage, but many properties remain unsafe. The scale of deposited mud means recovery will require more than clearing individual houses: roads, drainage, power connections and essential public services must also be restored.

Vehicles and belongings buried inside homes

The impact is also visible inside damaged properties. In Baireni, a motorcycle was found almost completely buried in dense mud on the ground floor of a house. Similar deposits have covered furniture, tools, vehicles and household possessions throughout affected communities.

Nepal observes a national day of mourning

Nepal lowered flags to half-mast at government offices and diplomatic missions on the 13th day after the disaster, traditionally the final day of Hindu mourning. Families held prayers, food offerings and symbolic funerals, including for loved ones whose bodies have not been recovered.

President Ram Chandra Paudel visited flood-affected areas as search operations continued. Authorities avoided wider commemorative programmes because rescue and recovery teams remain active across the hardest-hit districts.

Latest situation for Indian nationals

• 275 Indian nationals remain listed as missing in the latest available Indian government update.
• 166 Indians have been rescued.
• 1,907 Indian nationals safely crossed from China into Nepal.
• India has delivered approximately 95 tonnes of relief material.

Many of the missing Indians and people of Indian origin had travelled through the region for pilgrimages to Lake Mansarovar and Mount Kailash. Officials have said identification and verification work will continue as communications are restored and missing-person records are reconciled.