Overview
- A sudden ice‑and‑rock collapse near the Nepal–Tibet border on Aug. 26 sent a fast surge of ice, mud and water down the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli valleys and smashed villages, roads and hydropower sites.
- Rescuers pulled two men, Kabir Maharjan and Sanjay Sah, alive from the Trishuli 3A tunnel nine days after the flood and flew them to Kathmandu for treatment, with one in critical condition and teams reporting they had earlier heard other voices inside the tunnels.
- Official counts place the confirmed death toll above 1,200 with more than 5,000 people still missing, and authorities estimate roughly $2.5–2.6 billion in damage and tens of thousands of homes destroyed.
- Hundreds of hydropower workers remain unaccounted for across multiple projects, and crews are using drilling, controlled blasting, excavators, oxygen piping and specialist equipment while international technical teams and tunnel experts assist search efforts.
- Officials are expanding DNA forensics, body‑management and relief logistics, and the disaster has sharpened calls for major reconstruction funds, better Himalayan monitoring and targeted climate finance to reduce future glacial hazard risk.