Over 600 Feared Trapped in Nepal Flood Tunnels as Toll Passes 900.

NEPAL – More than 600 workers are feared trapped in mud-filled hydropower tunnels along Nepal’s Trishuli River, and their families are holding onto hope they’ll be found alive. Rescuers are using explosives to blast into the hillside and pumping air into the tunnels, racing against a closing window for survivors.

The disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border has killed at least 939 people in Nepal, with the number missing revised to 3,925 , including 592 foreigners. Around one in seven of the missing are hydropower workers. Nepal’s prime minister said 279 people had been rescued from the plant sites and more than 11,000 overall.

The operation, led by Chinese and Nepalese troops with help from India, Korea and Australia, has been slowed by devastated terrain , one expert described house-sized boulders and a “lunar landscape” where the tunnels have vanished. Families say the air-pumping should have started sooner and are frustrated by the pace.

Downstream in Chitwan, nearly 300 bodies have washed up, forcing overwhelmed authorities into temporary burials while DNA is collected to identify remains. In Tibet, China reports 16 dead and 546 missing, amid heavy censorship , both China and Nepal have penalised or removed online content over flood “misinformation.”