97-year-old woman pulled alive from rubble after Nepal's catastrophic glacier flood
Guna Maya Bohara survived four hours trapped beneath debris as rescuers worked to free her from a destroyed care home following flash floods that have killed at least 675 people in Nepal.
'A warrior': 97-year-old pulled alive from Nepal flood rubble
A 97-year-old woman has emerged as a symbol of resilience after being pulled alive from the rubble of a care home destroyed by catastrophic flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district. Guna Maya Bohara was trapped beneath debris for approximately four hours before police and Nepal Army personnel freed her on August 26, the first day of the disaster.
The flash floods struck after what scientists believe was a glacier collapse in the Himalayan border region near Langtang Lirung peak. The event was so powerful it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event on seismometers worldwide, initially mistaken for an earthquake. Satellite imagery analysis later confirmed the collapse left a 3,000-foot-wide gash in the mountainside.
The resulting torrent of water, rock, ice and mud raced down the Trishuli River valley at devastating speeds. Scientists estimate the flood wave traveled at an average speed of 193 kilometers per hour over the first 22 kilometers, covering nearly 14 miles in just 6 minutes and 50 seconds. The Trishuli River rose by as much as 9 meters in just 30 minutes, according to Nepali officials.
Rescuers spent around four hours carefully clearing wreckage before reaching Bohara. Images of her rescue — covered in mud and exhausted, being carried to safety in the bucket of an excavator — have since gone viral on social media.
Her great-nephew, Dipak Bohara, who traveled from Kathmandu to help with the rescue efforts, told BBC Nepali that his great-aunt looked like
a warriorreturning victorious from battle after emerging from the destruction. Doctors say Bohara is now recovering in hospital, though she has been unable to explain how she survived being trapped beneath the debris.
Mounting toll and international victims
According to the latest reports, at least 675 people have died in Nepal, while nearly 2,500 remain missing. Across Nepal and Tibet, the combined death toll has reached at least 691, with almost 3,000 people still unaccounted for. More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal.
Among those missing are 589 foreign nationals, including 90 Americans, many of whom were tourists in the region when disaster struck. The floodwaters carried some victims' bodies as far as 240 kilometers downstream, with bodies recovered in neighboring India.
Infrastructure devastation
The disaster has inflicted severe damage on critical infrastructure along the route linking Kathmandu with Tibet. The Trishuli River basin, which serves as the backbone of Nepal's energy sector and a primary trade corridor, has been particularly hard hit. The disaster destroyed approximately 40 kilometers of roads, 19 motorable bridges, 45 suspension bridges, and numerous hydropower plants.
The Gyirong Port complex on the China-Nepal border, which was the major gateway for trade and tourism between the countries, was completely destroyed.
Pattern of glacial disasters
This disaster follows a similar glacial lake outburst flood that struck the same region in July 2025, killing at least 11 people and destroying the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge. The repeated catastrophes highlight the region's growing vulnerability to glacial disasters.
Rescue teams continue to face the threat of further flooding from debris-dammed bodies of water as they work to reach communities cut off by the destruction. While Nepal has faced devastating natural disasters before — including the April 2015 Gorkha earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and displaced 2.8 million — the current crisis represents one of the country's worst disasters in recent years.
Amid the devastation, Bohara's survival offers a rare moment of hope in a tragedy that has claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands of families searching for missing loved ones.
