Nepal flood survivor found alive 10 days after family began mourning
Chandika Kumari Shrestha was found alive beneath her collapsed home in Nepal, 10 days after her family began mourning rites believing she had died in devastating floods. Rescuers heard her calling for help and freed her after a 45-minute operation.
- Chandika Kumari Shrestha survived for 10 days inside a collapsed home in flood-hit Betrawati.
- Police rescuers heard her calling for help while searching buildings buried under mud and debris.
- The rescue came as nearly 5,000 people remained missing and more than 1,300 had died across Nepal.
Rescuers in Nepal found Chandika Kumari Shrestha alive inside her collapsed home on Saturday, 10 days after her family began mourning rites believing the 64-year-old woman had died in floods that devastated the village of Betrawati.
Shrestha was found trapped in a confined space beneath her mud-covered home, where she had survived in a narrow pocket of air surrounded by water and mud.
Police officer Mahendra Darnal said he and his team heard a voice calling for help while searching the area.
"The four-storey house was swept [away] by the floods and the house was left in the middle of a quicksand. While walking around it, we heard a voice 'save me,'" Darnal said.
The rescue operation lasted 45 minutes. Shrestha was taken to an army hospital after rescuers pulled her from the collapsed building.
Family had begun mourning rites
Darnal said he had been in contact with Shrestha's family, who had started an 11-day mourning period believing she had died.
"I was in touch with the family and they had started the 11-day mourning period," Darnal said.
Images released by Nepal's army showed rescuers finding Shrestha covered in mud. They gave her bottled water before pulling her to safety and wrapping her in a grey blanket.
Her rescue came as authorities continued searching for hundreds of people missing in Betrawati, one of the areas worst hit by the floods.
Town buried under debris
Much of Betrawati was buried under debris left by a torrent that swept through the valley. The town's market and most residential buildings, some as tall as four storeys, were almost completely buried.
The area was engulfed by white deposits that had compacted almost like concrete, while rescue crews continued to recover scores of dead bodies.
Five days before Shrestha was found, 24 bodies were recovered in a decomposed state from Betrawati's market area, inside a building that had contained a small shop, Darnal said.
Rescue workers wearing hard hats were seen digging with shovels, while others crawled through gaps in collapsed buildings, periodically blowing whistles to attract the attention of anyone who might still be trapped and alive.
Thousands remain missing
Eleven days after a glacial collapse triggered the devastating floods, close to 5,000 people remained missing, according to the Reuters report.
Hundreds of bodies have been swept onto riverbanks far from the ravaged Rasuwa district. In Chitwan, hundreds of miles away, several rounds of mass burials have taken place for unidentified and badly decomposed bodies.
The disaster has killed more than 1,300 people across Nepal, while thousands remain unaccounted for.
Even as hopes of finding survivors have begun to fade, authorities continue searching for people trapped in tunnels and beneath thick deposits of mud that have hardened over buildings.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Shrestha's rescue had "given hope to the entire nation".
