After a "Doll Funeral," Faint Cry Heard Amid Debris: Nepalese Woman in Her 60s Miraculously Rescued

Police Dramatically Rescue Woman After Hearing Cries from the Rubble

A woman in her 60s who went missing in the major flood in Nepal and even had a "doll funeral" held by her family has been miraculously rescued after ten days.

Chandika Shrestha (64), who went missing in the massive flood in Nepal on the 26th of last month, has been rescued after ten days. Photo captured from X (formerly Twitter)

According to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) and local media such as the Kathmandu Post on the 6th, Chandika Shrestha (64), who lived in the old market town of Betrawati in the Nuwakot region, was rescued the previous day from underneath the rubble of her collapsed home.

On the morning of the rescue, members of the Nepal Armed Police heard faint crying coming from under the debris. The officers immediately began removing mud and broke a window to enter the wreckage. After being rescued, Shrestha was airlifted by Nepal Army helicopter to a hospital in the capital, Kathmandu, where she is currently receiving inpatient treatment. Deputy Inspector General Iqbal Hawari of Nepal Police told AFP, "Police officers deployed for road restoration in the vicinity were clearing the site when they rescued the woman. She was transported to a hospital in Kathmandu on a military helicopter for treatment."

On the eighth day after her disappearance, September 2, her family made a doll from Kusha, a sacred grass used in Hindu ceremonies, and held a "doll funeral," burning the doll instead of a body. They believed that since more than a week had passed since she went missing, the golden window for survival had closed.

Chandika Shrestha (64), who went missing due to the massive flood in Nepal on the 26th of last month, has been rescued after ten days. Photo from X (formerly Twitter).

In Hindu and Buddhist cultural regions including Nepal, it is believed that salvation cannot be achieved unless a funeral is held. As a result, some Nepalese families who have lost loved ones in the recent massive flood and were unable to recover the bodies have started holding doll funerals after a week has passed since the incident. The media reported that temples holding these funerals are so crowded with families of the missing that it is difficult to find a place.

As of the 5th, the death toll from the Nepal flood stands at 1,375, with an estimated 5,500 people missing. Specifically, it is estimated that there are 1,331 deaths and about 5,000 missing persons within Nepal, and in China, 31 deaths and 531 missing persons.

As additional rescues continue, the Nepalese authorities believe there could still be survivors inside hydropower plant tunnels and are accelerating the search for survivors in cooperation with rescue teams from multiple countries, including South Korea. Earlier, the Nepalese government announced that there was a possibility that more than 100 workers could be trapped alive inside hydropower plant tunnels.

A scene of holding a funeral by making a doll instead of a corpse at a temple in Nepal. Photo by AP Yonhap News

With the rescue of Shrestha, a total of four missing persons have been found alive over the two days leading up to this date. Previously, the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) dispatched to the rescue site rescued a Chinese worker at the 225-meter point inside the tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Plant construction site on the same day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.