‘A warrior’: How a 97-year-old was pulled alive from Nepal floods
Rescuers use an earthmover to carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal’s Nuwakot district. (Photo: AP)A 97-year-old woman pulled alive from the wreckage of Nepal’s floods is now recovering in hospital, doctors say. Her great-nephew, Dipak Bohara, told BBC Nepali that Guna Maya Bohara looked like “a warrior” returning victorious from battle after rescuers spent four hours freeing her from the rubble of her care home.
Dipak Bohara had travelled from Kathmandu to help pull his great-aunt from the debris. Her rescue is one of the rare moments of hope to emerge from a disaster that has killed hundreds of people across Nepal and Tibet since Wednesday, when scientists say a glacier collapse in the Himalayan border region triggered the flash floods.
What happened, and how?
The floods tore through roads, bridges and power lines along the route connecting Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet, a corridor also used by trekkers and pilgrims heading into the region. The scale of destruction has left some communities reachable only by helicopter, forcing rescuers like Dipak Bohara to make their own way into disaster zones to reach trapped relatives, much as he did to free his great-aunt.
More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, according to the Associated Press (AP), with thousands of security personnel deployed in the search-and-rescue effort. But the operation has been repeatedly complicated by conditions on the ground. A new danger emerged when debris blocked a river upstream, forming a lake that built up millions of cubic metres of water.
🚨🇳🇵 MIRACLE IN NEPAL!
A 105-YEAR-OLD WOMAN has reportedly been rescued alive after being trapped beneath the rubble of her home for around 24 HOURS.
At 105, she survived what many would never survive. 🙏❤️
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. A TRUE MIRACLE! 🙌🇳🇵 pic.twitter.com/AOBVJGTH0v
— American Nightmare 🇺🇸 (@thewakeninq) August 28, 2026
Reuters reported the volume climbed above 2.5 million cubic metres before the lake overflowed into the Bhotekoshi River, prompting warnings for people living downstream. Nepal paused rescue operations for about 90 minutes as a precaution, while Chinese rescue teams and vehicles were moved to safer ground before work resumed.
The disaster also has a significant international dimension. The affected route is heavily used by tourists and pilgrims travelling toward Tibet’s Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar, and India’s External Affairs Ministry says around 320 Indian nationals remain uncontactable, though 96 who had been stranded on the Chinese side have since crossed into Nepal by land.
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India has sent relief flights, a tunnel rescue team and a prefabricated bridge to help restore connectivity in flood-hit areas. On the Chinese side, rescue teams have been deployed around Gyirong county, where state media report more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of tourists, have been evacuated.
