Nepal and India’s joint rescue teams have reached the final stage of efforts to clear the blocked portion of the Chilime tunnel and reach an underground powerhouse, where six workers are believed to be trapped, authorities said.

The tunnel face is being cleared using wheel loaders. Once the blocked section is cleared, the Indian and Nepalese rescue teams will move further inside the tunnel to reach and rescue the workers, they said.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava said on Monday (September 14, 2026) that the joint team had continued work to clear the remaining blocked section of the tunnel using excavators and loaders.

The operation faced unexpected challenges, including an inflow of water from inside the tunnel and the presence of large boulders, he said.

The teams are using mud pumps to remove the water, Mr. Srivastava said, adding that the clearing work was expected to continue on Tuesday to reach the powerhouse.

Flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, killing around 1,400 people, while more than 5,000 remain missing. The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.

A Chinese national was rescued on Saturday (September 5, 2026) from a hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa, Nepal, while a 60-year-old woman was saved from the upper floor of a four-storey house buried in debris in Betrawati, Nuwakot district.

The man, identified as Luhaitao, was trapped inside Audit Tunnel 4 of the flood-affected Upper Trishuli 1 Hydropower Project.

“A joint rescue team comprising the Nepali Army and foreign rescuers has rescued a Chinese national, Luhaitao, alive from inside a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project,” the Nepali Army said following the rescue on Saturday (September 5, 2026).

“Luhaitao was rescued from a point approximately 225 metres inside the tunnel. His health is currently being assessed, while search and rescue operations are continuing.” Luhaitao was rescued at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday (September 5, 2026) from the site in Nuwakot district.

The latest rescue brings the total to three workers pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project. Two Nepalese workers were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant on Friday (September 4, 2026).

Meanwhile, 60-year-old woman Chandika Shrestha was found unconscious and rescued from the house in Bidur Municipality-10, The Kathmandu Post reported on Saturday (September 5, 2026).

Following her rescue by a nine-member Armed Police Force team, Shrestha was flown by helicopter to the Nepali Army’s Maithili Barracks in Trishuli for initial treatment. She would be brought to Kathmandu for further treatment if necessary, the Nepal PM’s office was quoted as saying in the report.

The death toll from the devastating flash floods in Nepal rose to 1,344 on Saturday (September 5, 2026) as more bodies were recovered from the affected districts, police said. Rescue teams continued to search for around 4,900 people who remain missing.