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Nepal’s rescue teams pushed deeper into blocked hydropower tunnels on Monday, working alongside Chinese and Indian experts to reach hundreds of workers still believed trapped nearly a week after a catastrophic Himalayan flood. The disaster struck last Wednesday, when a wall of ice, rock, mud and debris tore through valley towns and villages in Nepal and crossed into neighboring China. The flood has killed more than 900 people, and almost 5,000 remain missing. Officials believe a glacier collapse triggered the collapse. Rescuers Turn to Controlled Blasts Nepali officials said the immediate priority is reaching 933 workers trapped at 11 hydropower projects, many of them inside roughly half a dozen tunnels, in the hard-hit districts of Rasuwa and Nuwakot. Video and photos released by rescue teams showed excavators clearing mud and rock under floodlights through the night, while soldiers used torches to search a large pit dug in hopes of reaching one blocked tunnel. The Nepali army said search teams are using controlled blasts, excavators and searchlights to clear water and debris and reach anyone still trapped. Crews recovered three bodies after entering two tunnels, while other sections remain buried and are still being searched, the army said. “A large amount of debris has been deposited and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels,” Nepali army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said. “Our main focus is on opening the tunnels.” Death Toll Climbs Past 900 Nepali authorities confirmed 903 deaths on Monday, with 4,247 people still missing, a figure that includes the 933 workers unaccounted for at hydropower sites. Across the border in China’s Gyirong County, authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing. Nepal’s foreign ministry said roughly 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries remain missing. More than 10,000 people have been pulled from the flood zone so far, including 323 foreign nationals, the ministry added. The Red Cross estimates the disaster has affected more than 90,000 people. China has tied the flooding to the broader effects of climate change. A Booming Industry Built on Mountain Tunnels Nepal has seen a surge in hydropower development since the early 2000s, as the country has worked to harness its Himalayan rivers to ease chronic power shortages at home and expand electricity sales to India. Building that industry in Nepal’s terrain requires tunnels. Developers rely on them to channel river water through steep mountainsides, using the sharp drop in elevation between Himalayan rivers and powerhouses below to generate electricity. Those same tunnels are now where hundreds of workers remain trapped. Prime Minister Balendra Shah called the flood an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster” and said officials still cannot compile a full damage assessment. China Reports Its Own Missing Beijing said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries remain unaccounted for in Tibet, near a major border crossing with Nepal. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that nearly 100 Chinese citizens have not been reachable on the Nepalese side of the border. State broadcaster CCTV reported that a Chinese cabinet meeting called for an all-out search effort, along with transparent public information, risk assessment and stronger emergency management systems going forward. New Lakes and Unstable Glaciers Threaten Fresh Flooding Nepal has said it does not need outside help for general search and rescue work, but it has turned to India and China for specialized tunnel rescue expertise. Rescue efforts have been suspended multiple times due to bad weather, and officials remain concerned about a lake that formed across the Nepal-China border after the disaster. That lake has already begun overflowing into Nepal’s river system, raising fears of renewed flooding. CCTV reported Monday that glaciers surrounding an impact crater near last week’s collapse site remain at risk of further collapse. Drone footage showed landslide deposits along both riverbanks, raising the possibility of additional collapses and the formation of new lakes. State media said last week’s flood was caused by glacier instability linked to long-term global warming. Nepal Says Data-Sharing With China Has Fallen Short Two Nepali officials told Reuters that China had not shared substantial information on glacier risks and water levels since a meeting earlier this year meant to strengthen cooperation between the two countries. The officials said they worry the lack of shared data could weaken disaster preparedness going forward. China’s foreign ministry said Beijing has continuously supplied Nepal with meteorological and hydrological data and will keep supporting Nepal’s disaster relief work while safeguarding what it called the two countries’ shared interests. What Comes Next With thousands still missing and unstable glaciers looming over the disaster zone, Nepal’s rescue operation faces a narrowing window. Crews are racing to reach the hydropower tunnels before weather or new flooding forces another pause, even as questions grow over whether both governments shared enough warning to limit the damage in the first place.

Nepal’s foreign minister has placed the country on high alert for further flooding, warning that the hard-hit Himalayan border region with Tibet has turned into swampland following Wednesday’s glacial flash floods. The warning comes as Chinese state media reported a lake formed by the disaster is now at high risk of breaching its banks and sending fresh floodwaters downstream. A Second Flood Threat Builds Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Thursday that continued rainfall could push inflows into the newly formed lake to about 3 million cubic meters, roughly 3 billion litres, over the next three days. That volume is equivalent to around 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Xinhua warned the surge could cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and other locations downstream from the lake, according to the AFP news agency. The lake formed after the initial glacial-lake-triggered flash flood tore through Nepal’s Rasuwa district near the Tibet border, one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in the Himalayan region in recent years. Rescue teams already working through mud and debris in the area now face the added risk of a second flood event before recovery efforts are complete. Terrain Turned to Swamp Slows Rescue Work Nepal’s foreign minister described the border region as having transformed into swampland, a shift that complicates an already difficult search and rescue operation. Rescue crews have relied on heavy machinery, helicopters and sniffer dogs to dig through the debris left by the initial flooding, and waterlogged, unstable ground adds a further obstacle to teams trying to reach areas that remain cut off. The high-alert warning follows a pattern authorities on both sides of the border have tracked since the disaster began. China’s CCTV had earlier reported that overflow from the barrier lake had stopped, easing immediate fears and allowing rescue workers to prepare to resume operations after an earlier suspension. Xinhua’s updated assessment shows that pause in risk did not last, with forecasters now projecting a sustained rise in the lake’s water level driven by ongoing monsoon rain. Rescue and Recovery Continue Under Pressure The renewed flood risk arrives as Nepal’s disaster relief agency continues to report a rising human toll from the initial disaster. Nearly 2,000 people remain missing, and the confirmed death count has reached 579. Rescue teams have pulled 3,742 people from the affected areas so far, and workers are still trying to reach around 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project that flooded when the disaster first struck. Authorities are using satellite imagery to monitor the region, though officials have said that monitoring remains limited by the availability of usable images. The threat of a new lake breach adds urgency to that monitoring effort, since a sudden surge downstream could put both rescue crews and stranded residents at further risk before search operations are complete. Cross-Border Impact Remains Significant The disaster has affected communities on both sides of the Nepal-Tibet border. Chinese state media has reported at least three deaths in Gyirong County, with 558 people missing there, including 260 foreign nationals. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said 400 Indian citizens stranded on the Chinese side after the floods are now safe, while roughly 320 Indians remain unaccounted for. Any new flooding from the lake breach Xinhua described could compound the difficulty of locating those still missing, particularly in areas downstream from Gyirong Port that authorities have flagged as vulnerable. Rescue coordination between Nepal and China has continued through the week, with both sides tracking the risk of secondary flooding as closely as the ongoing search for survivors. What Comes Next Forecasters expect the rainfall driving the lake’s rise to continue over the next three days, the window Xinhua identified as the period of highest risk for a breach. Nepal’s high-alert status signals that authorities expect the situation to remain unstable through that window, with officials watching both the lake’s water level and the broader monsoon pattern that has fed it. For rescue teams already working in swamped, debris-covered terrain, the warning means operations may need to pause again if conditions deteriorate, a scenario that has already played out once this week when China suspended work over renewed flood risk. Whether the lake breaches, and how much additional damage it causes downstream, will depend largely on how much rain falls in the coming days.