First words from Nepali woman found alive days after family began funeral rites

A woman thought to have died in the flooding in Nepal has been found alive under the ruins of her collapsed home.

Relatives of Chandika Kumari Shrestha had already started funeral rites, ten days before she was discovered under the mud in Betrawati, a market town devastated by the collapsed glacier.

Rescuers heard a voice saying ‘save me’ as they scoured the wreckage of a four-story home which was completely swept away by the flash flooding.

Police officer Mahendra Darnal said they found Ms Shrestha in a confined space, from where she was freed in 45 minutes, before being taken to an army hospital for treatment.

‘I was in touch with the family and they had started the 11-day mourning period,’ he said.

Ms Shrestha was among hundreds unaccounted for in the area, one of the worst affected by the disaster, which has so far claimed more than 1,300 lives.

More than 5,000 remain missing eleven days since the glacial collapse triggered the flooding, which has since buried settlements under hard concrete-like mud.

Emergency workers have continued to excavate submerged areas, periodically blowing whistles in an attempt to grab the attention of any trapped survivors.

Some 24 bodies were found five days ago in a decomposed state in Betrawati’s market area in a building containing a small shop.

Hundreds of miles away in Chitwan, several rounds of mass burials have taken place for unidentified bodies.

Another three people have been rescued from tunnels by the Trishuli river, where around 900 are thought to be trapped.

Among others miraculously rescued include an eight-year-old boy reunited with his mother.

On the Chinese side, authorities confirmed 31 people as of Friday, while 531 others are unaccounted for, including 261 foreigners from 23 countries.

Workers used orange excavators to plough through the mud in a search for possible survivors and victims.

A red and gold Chinese flag has been placed on the site of the former five-storey customs building between Nepal and the Tibet autonomous region.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.