Nepalese rescue teams, aided by Chinese and Indian experts, stepped up efforts on Monday to reach hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside the hydropower project’s blocked tunnels after last week’s Himalayan flood that left a trail of destruction in towns and villages in the country’s valley, as well as across the border with China. The unprecedented deluge of ice, rocks, mud and debris along the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday – blamed on a collapsing glacier – killed more than 900 people and nearly 5,000 are still missing. Hundreds of bodies, many of them unidentified, have been buried in shallow graves on the plains of the Himalayan country after being carried down the mountain by the torrent and decomposing amid the wet conditions. Nepalese officials said the focus was on reaching the 933 workers believed to be trapped at 11 hydropower projects, many of them in tunnels, in the two worst-affected districts of Rasuwa and Nuwakot. Read moreRescuers face a mountain of challenges after floods between Nepal and Tibet. Images and videos shared by rescuers showed earthmoving equipment digging and shoveling mud and rocks under lights in the dead of night as workers watched. The soldiers used torchlight in a large pit they had created to look for space to enter a tunnel. The Nepalese military said search and rescue teams were using controlled explosions, excavators and search lights to clear water and mud and reach trapped people. Crews recovered three bodies after entering two tunnels, while other sections remained buried in mud and were still being searched, he said. “A large amount of debris has been deposited and that poses a big challenge for us to open the tunnels,” Nepalese army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told Reuters. “Our main objective is to open the tunnels.” ‘Unprecedented disaster’ On Monday, Nepalese authorities said 903 people had died and 4,247 were missing, including 933 at hydroelectric plants. On the Chinese side, authorities said 16 people were killed in Gyirong county and 546 were missing. The Red Cross estimates that more than 90,000 people will likely have been affected by the disaster, which China has linked to the effects of climate change. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the flood was a “devastating and unprecedented natural disaster” and that it remained difficult to compile a full assessment of the damage. “Despite adverse weather, difficult terrain and continued risks, we are moving forward with determination to save the lives of our citizens,” he said in a Facebook post late Sunday, adding that nearly 21,000 security personnel were involved in the rescue operations, in addition to civilian workers and volunteers. Muna Khadka, mother of Aayush Khadka, 21, who lost his life during deadly flash floods and a landslide, cries next to his body before his cremation inside the cremation ground, in Chitwan, Nepal, August 31, 2026. © Adnan Abidi, Reuters On a visit to Kyrgyzstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing is doing everything possible to search for people missing after the disaster, reported Xinhua on Monday. Beijing has said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries remain missing in Tibet, near a key border crossing with Nepal. China’s state CCTV reported that Beijing has mobilized more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan ($33 million) to support relief efforts. It has been airdropping equipment and supplies to frontline rescuers, while its soldiers used life detection equipment to search for the missing. Climate change takes its toll Although Nepal has said it does not need foreign help for the rescue and search in general, it has leaned on its giant neighbors India and China for their experience in tunnel rescue. Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday due to bad weather and concerns that a lake formed along the Nepal-China border as a result of the disaster could cause fresh flooding after it began overflowing into Nepal’s rivers. Chinese state television CCTV said another lake formed by a landslide upstream had largely drained as water flowed naturally. Authorities are now monitoring an impact crater excavated near the site of the glacier collapse on the Nepalese side, which as of Saturday afternoon had expanded to 174,000 square meters, state media reported. The crater has an estimated reserve of 2.5 million cubic meters, which if it breaks, could cause a chain reaction in the lakes below, authorities warned. CCTV said there was a risk of further landslides along the river that could create additional lakes, while investigators identified eight high-risk locations for geological disasters. The flood was “caused by the instability of glaciers under the long-term effects of global warming,” the state broadcaster reported, saying it was a “new and notable feature of cryosphere disasters” on the Tibetan Plateau. Two Nepalese officials told Reuters that China had not shared much information about glacier risks and water levels after a meeting to strengthen cooperation earlier this year, and they feared the lack of data sharing could hamper preparation for future disasters. On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing had continuously provided Nepal with meteorological and hydrological data and would continue to “firmly support” Nepal’s efforts in disaster relief and safeguarding the common interests of the two countries. (FRANCE 24 with Reuters)