Woman survives floods in Nepal after being trapped at home for days

The woman who was trapped in her home after the floods that hit Nepal and was rescued on Saturday (5) said that her family had already started mourning rituals. Chandika Kumari Shrestha, 64, survived by staying in a small air pocket, surrounded by water and mud.

"The four-story house was washed away by the floods and was left in the mud. As we walked around it, we heard a voice saying, 'Save me'," said police officer Mahendra Darnal.

The rescue operation lasted 45 minutes. After being removed from the house, Shrestha was taken to a military hospital. “I was in contact with the family and they had already started the 11-day mourning period,” Darnal said.

Shrestha was among hundreds of people missing in Betrawati, one of the worst flood-hit areas in Nepal. The village was covered in a layer of sediment that hardened almost like concrete.

The market and most of the houses, some with four floors, were buried by mud and debris carried by the flood that crossed the valley.

Crews continue to recover dozens of bodies by digging with shovels. Some people try to help, crawling through the gaps in collapsed buildings and blowing whistles to attract the attention of possible survivors trapped in the rubble.

Hundreds of bodies were washed away by rivers away from Rasuwa district, one of the hardest hit. In Chitwan, hundreds of kilometers away, several collective burials of unidentified bodies in an advanced state of decomposition were carried out.

Since Friday (4), three people have been removed from tunnels, including a Chinese citizen found near the Trishuli River. It is estimated that more than 900 people are trapped in the region.

Other survivors, like Shrestha, were found in extreme conditions. Among them is an 8-year-old boy, who was also reunited with his mother.