Unprecedented

Nepal's flood disaster posed an unprecedented challenge, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix said Monday, with multiple search operations underway in Himalayan hydropower tunnels. The August 26 glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 people, with more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.

"We are facing something I have never faced before," said Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. "Not one rescue, but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties, and lives that may still be saved."

"Never confuse unlikely with impossible"

Rescue efforts continue "with the same tempo we had on day one," Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP. "Our focus is on search and rescue at three levels -- on ground, by air, and in the tunnels. We are making sure that no one is still stranded."

The rescue of three workers from deep inside tunnels buoyed hopes of finding other survivors. Foreign experts from China, India, and South Korea are aiding Nepali teams. Dix, a key adviser during the 2023 Silkyara tunnel rescue in India where 41 men were trapped for 17 days, said: "Silkyara taught me never to confuse unlikely with impossible."