After a devastating flood in Nepal, rescuers found an elderly woman alive after ten days, although her family had already believed her dead. Seventy-three-year-old Chandika Kumari Shrestha survived beneath the rubble of her own four-story house. Reuters reports, UNN writes.
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Ten days later, rescuers found her alive inside the ruins of a house in the devastated village of Betrawati. The woman survived in a narrow air pocket surrounded by water and mud.
The four-story house was swept away by the flood and ended up amid unstable ground. When we were passing by, we heard a voice: "Save me"
During a rescue operation on Saturday that lasted 45 minutes, Darnal and his team found Shrestha in an enclosed space and took her to a military hospital.
Shrestha was one of hundreds of people reported missing in Betrawati—one of the areas of Nepal hardest hit by the flood. The area was covered with white sediment that had compacted almost to the consistency of concrete. Rescuers continue to find dozens of bodies.
The town's market and most of the residential buildings, some of them up to four stories high, were almost completely buried under the rubble left by the flow of water that swept through the valley. The disaster claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people across Nepal. Thousands of people are still considered missing.
In China, 531 people are still considered missing after the massive flood06.09.26, 11:17
Five days earlier, 24 decomposing bodies were found in the Betrawati market area. They were in a building that had previously housed a small shop, Darnal said.
Eleven days have passed since the glacial collapse that caused the devastating floods, yet around 5,000 people are still considered missing.
Hundreds of bodies were carried by the water onto riverbanks far from the devastated Rasuwa district. In Chitwan, hundreds of kilometers from the site of the disaster, several mass burials have already been held for unidentified bodies that were in an advanced state of decomposition.
Although hope is gradually fading, Nepalese authorities continue searching for people who may remain in tunnels or beneath thick layers of mud that hardened over the destroyed buildings.
Since Friday, rescuers have pulled three people from tunnels, including a Chinese citizen who was found near the Trishuli River. More than 900 people are believed to be trapped beneath the rubble in the area.
Other people, like Shrestha, also managed to survive in extremely difficult conditions. Among them was an 8-year-old boy, whom rescuers also reunited with his mother.
Flooding in Nepal and Tibet has claimed more than 1,375 lives05.09.26, 16:14