Believing that Chandika Kumari Shrestha had tragically perished in the devastating floods in Nepal, her family began the mourning rituals for her. However, ten days later, rescuers made a miraculous discovery when they found Shrestha alive inside her collapsed home in Betrawati village. She had managed to survive in a small air pocket amidst the water and mud.

Police officer Mahendra Darnal recounted the rescue operation where they heard Shrestha’s plea for help from her house that had been swept away by the floods. After a 45-minute effort, Shrestha was rescued from her confined space and taken to an army hospital.

Shrestha was one of the many missing individuals in Betrawati, an area severely impacted by the floods in Nepal. The region was covered with dense deposits resembling concrete, making rescue operations challenging as recovery teams continued to discover numerous deceased individuals.

The town’s market and residential buildings, some towering up to four stories, were buried under debris, further exacerbating the disaster that claimed over 1,300 lives in Nepal, with thousands still unaccounted for.

Rescue workers were tirelessly searching for survivors, digging through rubble and using whistles to signal for help. In a grim discovery five days prior, 24 bodies were found in a decomposed state in a building in Betrawati’s market area.

Nearly 5,000 people remain missing eleven days after the catastrophic floods triggered by a glacial collapse. The aftermath has seen bodies washed up on riverbanks far from the disaster site, with mass burials conducted for unidentified and badly decomposed remains in distant areas like Chitwan.

Despite the dwindling hope, Nepalese authorities persist in their search efforts, focusing on locating individuals trapped in tunnels and buried under solidified mud deposits. Recent rescues include three individuals, including a Chinese citizen near the Trishuli river, where a significant number of people are believed to be stranded.

Among the tales of survival is that of Shrestha and an eight-year-old boy who was also reunited with his mother after enduring extreme conditions during the disaster.