In Nepal, emergency crews turned to cable cars, ropeways and ziplines to move stranded residents to safety after August’s catastrophic floods and mudslides destroyed key bridges in affected communities.
Footage from the rescue effort shows workers hauling ropes by hand as they transport people trapped on a riverbank beside raging floodwaters. In one video from Nuwakot, Nepal, two residents are seen seated inside a small box suspended from a wire, being pulled across the river to a waiting platform.
The dramatic crossings are part of a wider emergency response as Nepal and neighboring China continue to grapple with the destruction left by the Aug. 26 mudslide and subsequent flooding across Tibet’s Gyirong Valley and Nepal’s Trishuli River Valley.
By Wednesday, Nepal had confirmed at least 1,114 deaths, with nearly 4,000 people still unaccounted for. Across the border, Chinese officials reported 16 confirmed fatalities and at least 541 people missing.
Nepalese army personnel take part in a search-and-rescue operation near a tunnel outside hydropower project sites after deadly flash floods and mudslides in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, in a handout obtained by Reuters on Sept. 2, 2026. (Nepal Army/Handout via REUTERS)
Rescuers are still working to search and rescue any potential survivors trapped in a hydropower tunnel in the Rasuwa district.
“In Rasuwagadhi, we think 46 people are trapped in a room-like structure in the tunnel,” Amshu Kiran Shahi, a board member of the Nepal Electricity Authority that operates the hydropower plant, told Reuters.
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Nepal army soldiers work during a search and rescue operation at the entrance of a tunnel near the Hydropower Project sites, following deadly flash floods and mudslides, in Rasuwa district, Nepal, in this handout image on Sept. 2, 2026. (Nepal Army/Handout via REUTERS)
A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration also told Fox News that an additional two Americans made it to safety in Nepal, marking 16 total Americans in the country who made their way to safety.
Seventy-five Americans in Nepal currently remain unaccounted for while no American casualties have been reported so far.
A drone view shows damaged buildings and houses covered in mud next to the Likhu River following deadly flash floods and mudslides in Devighat, Nuwakot district, Nepal, on Aug. 30, 2026. (REUTERS)
News Media contacted the U.S. State Department and Nepal’s Foreign Ministry for further comment.