分类: society

  • Tiger Woods to change plea after crash arrest

    Tiger Woods to change plea after crash arrest

    Five months after a dramatic rollover crash in Florida that led to his arrest on driving under the influence charges, iconic professional golfer Tiger Woods is preparing to modify his initial plea in court. Official court records confirm that the plea change hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Martin County Courthouse in South Florida.

    The incident that sparked the legal proceedings unfolded back in March, when the 50-year-old golf star’s vehicle clipped a passing truck and flipped on a public roadway. No people were hurt in the crash, but Woods was forced to escape the wreckage by crawling through the front passenger door after the vehicle came to a stop. Law enforcement officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene, and body camera footage captured by responding officers has since been released to the public.

    In the released footage, Woods is seen calm while kneeling on one knee beside the crashed SUV, telling responding officers that the crash happened unexpectedly when he glanced down at his mobile phone. The golf legend told police that he had not consumed any alcohol that day, and he passed a standard roadside breathalyzer test for alcohol. When officers asked if he had taken any prescription medication that morning, he acknowledged he had taken “a few” medications, but the portion of the bodycam footage where he lists the specific medications has been redacted from public view.

    After passing the breathalyzer, Woods declined to complete a further urinalysis screening that would test for the presence of other controlled substances in his system. Officers on scene noted that they suspected Woods’ normal mental and physical faculties were impaired by an as-of-yet unconfirmed substance. A search after his arrest turned up two white pills in Woods’ pocket, which authorities later identified as hydrocodone, a commonly prescribed opioid pain medication.

    Shortly after the March arrest, Woods entered a plea of not guilty to two misdemeanor charges: driving under the influence and refusal to submit to required drug testing. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Woods released a public statement via social media acknowledging the severity of his situation, announcing that he would step away from competitive golf for a period to seek professional treatment and focus on his recovery and long-term health.

    It is important to note that this arrest marks the second time Woods has faced DUI-related charges. As of Tuesday, the exact nature of the plea change Woods plans to enter has not been made public. Representatives from the BBC have reached out to both prosecuting attorneys and Woods’ legal team for comment, but no additional details have been released ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.

  • Watch: BBC inside court as jury in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked

    Watch: BBC inside court as jury in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked

    In a rare moment of public transparency for criminal court proceedings, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been permitted to provide inside coverage of the ongoing Lindsay Clancy murder trial, where the jury has announced it is deadlocked on a verdict. Clancy stands accused of three counts of murder connected to the deaths of her three young children at the family’s Massachusetts home in 2023, a case that has sent shockwaves through the local community and captured national attention across the United States.

    Court officials confirmed that after days of deliberation, the jury informed the judge that they have been unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges against the defendant. Legal observers note that a deadlocked jury creates a significant impasse in the trial, potentially leading to a mistrial and a complete retrial of the case at a later date. The BBC’s access to the courtroom marks an unusual step toward opening high-profile criminal proceedings to public view, allowing audiences around the world to follow the critical stages of this emotionally charged case. As the court weighs its next steps, the community that was rocked by the 2023 killings remains on edge, awaiting clarity on how the judicial process will move forward after the jury’s announcement of an impasse.

  • Could the man who murdered a Christian missionary and his sons walk free in India?

    Could the man who murdered a Christian missionary and his sons walk free in India?

    More than 27 years after one of India’s most brutal acts of anti-religious violence sparked global outrage, the high-profile 1999 murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons has returned to public attention, as India’s Supreme Court prepares to issue a ruling this week on a plea for early release from the man convicted of the crime.

    Dara Singh, whose legal name is Rabindra Kumar Pal, has remained behind bars since his 2000 arrest, serving a life sentence for the horrific killing: on January 22, 1999, after Staines and his sons—aged 6 and 10—attended a small Christian gathering in the remote village of Manoharpur, Odisha, they slept in their parked jeep when a 60- to 70-person mob led by Singh surrounded the vehicle, set it alight, and blocked all routes of escape. Staines, who had spent 30 years living and working in rural Odisha providing care for leprosy patients and supporting local tribal communities, had long been targeted by Singh and other Hindu hardliners, who falsely accused him of coercing low-caste Hindus and tribal people to convert to Christianity.

    The brutality of the attack sent immediate shockwaves through India’s 30-million-strong Christian minority and drew widespread international condemnation. Following the murders, Singh fled into the jungle, where he was shielded by sympathetic locals who glorified him as a folk hero; after a year-long manhunt that included an 800,000-rupee reward for information leading to his capture, police arrested him during an overnight raid on a remote jungle hideout.

    In a 2000 prison interview with India Today just months after his arrest, Singh made no secret of his extremist ideology: he denied personally carrying out the killings but openly acknowledged leading a regional movement against Christian missionaries, claiming Hinduism was under threat from forced conversion. He stated he was ready to become a martyr for the Hindu cause and insisted he would never be convicted. That prediction proved wrong: a trial court sentenced him to death in 2003, before the Odisha High Court commuted the sentence to life in 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld that life sentence in 2011, rejecting prosecutors’ calls to reinstate the death penalty.

    The Staines family murder was not the only violent hate crime Singh was convicted of. In 2007, he received two additional life sentences for separate 1999 attacks on religious minorities: one that left Catholic priest Arul Das dead after a mob burned down a church, and another that saw a Muslim garment trader named Shaikh Rahaman beaten and burned to death. He was also linked to more than 10 cases of anti-Muslim violence targeting cow traders, an issue he cited as a core extremist grievance. While an official inquiry later ruled Singh acted alone in the Staines murder, rejecting claims of formal ties to the hardline Hindu group Bajrang Dal, the attack laid bare deep sectarian tensions that would erupt into larger-scale violence years later, including the 2008 Kandhamal anti-Christian riots that left dozens dead and displaced tens of thousands.

    In an act of public forgiveness consistent with her Christian faith, Graham Staines’ widow Gladys—who remained in India with her daughter Esther until 2004—stated she had long forgiven Singh, noting that forgiveness creates a path to collective healing.

    It was not until July 2024 that Singh filed a formal petition for early release with the Supreme Court, arguing he was eligible for parole after serving more than 25 years in custody, and claiming his prison conduct had been exemplary. In a striking reversal of his 2000 statements, the 62-year-old now says he deeply regrets his crimes, attributing the violence to “the fervour of youth” fueled by ideological extremism. “The petitioner acknowledges and deeply regrets the transgressions committed more than two decades ago,” his petition reads. “In the fervour of youth, fuelled by impassioned reactions to the brutal history of India, the petitioner’s psyche momentarily lost restraint.”

    The Supreme Court previously ordered the Odisha state government to review Singh’s plea last year, but state authorities have delayed a decision repeatedly. At the most recent hearing on August 19, state officials told a two-judge bench that the state Sentence Review Board needed more time to complete paperwork and requested another adjournment. The bench, composed of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi, expressed open frustration with the repeated delays, ordering the board to issue a final decision by September 2, or the court would rule on the plea itself.

    News of the possible early release has sparked widespread unease among India’s religious minorities, particularly given Singh’s unrepentant public comments from prison just years after the crime. In that 2000 interview, he declared he had “no regrets” for the killings of Staines and his children, and stated that if released, he would immediately return to opposing religious conversion and cow slaughter, even warning that “anything can happen” if the government did not ban both practices.

    Prominent Indian Christian rights activist John Dayal recently noted that early release via sentence remission is a common, generally humane practice in India’s criminal justice system, centered on the principle of allowing reformed offenders to rejoin society. But he warned that anxiety over Singh’s possible release is far from abstract, given Odisha’s long history of organized anti-Christian violence. “The Staines murders were not an ordinary homicide but a public, theatrical act of terror, intended to be seen and understood as a warning,” Dayal wrote. “What remains to be seen is not whether Singh will eventually walk free, but how the government conducts itself around that decision… and whether minority communities are given any reassurance.”

  • AP Exclusive: Nurse who saved baby from Pakistan hospital fire wishes she could have saved the rest

    AP Exclusive: Nurse who saved baby from Pakistan hospital fire wishes she could have saved the rest

    On August 26, a sudden fire broke out in the nursery of Pakistan’s largest public medical facility, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, leaving 14 newborns dead and only one infant alive. The nurse who pulled that surviving baby from the flames, Razia Noreen, has become a symbol of courage across the nation, though she continues to grieve the children she could not reach.

    In her first on-the-record interview with international media, Noreen recounted the chaotic seconds that changed her life. She and her colleagues had just completed a check on the 15 newborns under their care and moved to an adjacent room to prepare scheduled injections when she spotted flickering flames through the doorway. Without hesitation, she dropped the syringe she held and sprinted back into the smoke-charged space.

    Dramatic 51-second CCTV footage from the hospital’s security system captures the split-second rescue: Noreen grabbed the nearest infant, clutched the newborn tightly to her chest to shield it from scorching heat and smoke, and exited the nursery just eight seconds after entering. She immediately passed the baby to a waiting doctor in the hallway, and turned immediately to rush back in for the remaining 14 children. By that point, however, conditions inside the nursery had deteriorated catastrophically, a later government inquiry confirmed, with toxic smoke and open flames filling the entire room in less than two minutes, making re-entry impossible.

    Refusing to give up, Noreen and a second nurse dropped to the ground, where smoke concentrations were lower, and tried to crawl through the doorway. Thick smoke blinded her, clogged her airway, and triggered violent coughing that left her gasping for breath. She pushed forward until advancing flames forced her to retreat, she said. Minutes later, when the fire was contained, she learned the devastating truth: all 14 remaining infants had died. Noreen said she collapsed to the floor, overwhelmed by shock.

    In the wake of the tragedy, Noreen’s selfless split-second choice has resonated across Pakistan’s diverse social and religious landscape. As a member of the country’s small Christian minority, Noreen has drawn praise from both Christian and Muslim communities. The national government has announced she will receive the Sitara-i-Khidmat (Star of Service), one of Pakistan’s highest civilian honors, in addition to a cash reward for her bravery, and ordinary Pakistanis have widely hailed her as a national hero.

    For Noreen, however, the act was not one of heroism, but simple instinct. A mother herself, she framed her actions as nothing more than the duty any caregiver owes to the children entrusted to them. “Can any mother watch a child burning in a fire?” she asked. “No. Mothers do not do favors for their children. It is their duty. When newborns come to the nursery, separated from their own mothers, we become their mothers for that time. We feed them, care for them, watch over them. The mothers had entrusted their babies to us, so I had to act.” She added that when she stepped into the fire, she did not pause to think of her own safety: “I only had one mission: to save lives. I didn’t care if I made it out alive. My only goal was to bring all of them out.”

    Despite the widespread acclaim, Noreen remains deeply traumatized by the tragedy. She told the Associated Press she has barely slept since the fire, and that every time she nears the former nursery space, memories of the flames and the lost babies overwhelm her. Sometimes, she said, she still thinks she can hear the infants crying, and she collapses to the ground. “The deaths of those children have broken me,” she said. “It may take me years to recover from this.” She even developed a 39.4-degree Celsius fever in the days after the fire, but still agreed to the interview to share her story, saying “Those babies do not let me sleep.” In a tearful closing message, she extended a plea to the families of the 14 newborns who died: “Please forgive me for not being able to save your babies.”

    The cause of the fire has shifted in official accounts, with hospital and district officials first blaming a faulty air conditioning unit that exploded, before later revising the account to say a blast linked to a nebulizer sparked the blaze. The official government inquiry released after the event identified systemic, serious failures in the facility’s fire safety protocols and emergency response protocols. Eight senior hospital officials have been suspended pending disciplinary action over the lapses that allowed the fire to turn deadly.

  • Jurors in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked but judge asks them to keep trying

    Jurors in Lindsay Clancy trial deadlocked but judge asks them to keep trying

    After three full days of closed-door deliberations, the jury hearing the high-profile triple murder case against Massachusetts resident Lindsay Clancy has failed to reach a unanimous verdict, leaving the court in shock on Tuesday. Despite the impasse, the presiding judge has instructed the panel to continue their deliberations in an effort to resolve the deadlock.

    Clancy, a 36-year-old former nurse, stands accused of killing her three young children at the family’s Massachusetts home in 2023, and faces three counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors with the commonwealth’s legal team have argued that Clancy carried out the killings in a premeditated, intentional act that meets the legal standard for first-degree homicide. Her defense team does not contest that Clancy caused the deaths of her children, but has centered its entire case on the argument that she was suffering severe, untreated postpartum psychosis at the time of the incident. This condition, the defense argues, left Clancy unable to distinguish right from wrong, negating the criminal intent required for a first-degree murder conviction.

    The 12-member jury, made up of nine women and three men, began deliberations last week, wrapping up weeks of testimony from more than 50 witnesses called by both the prosecution and defense. When Judge William Sullivan read the jury’s note announcing the deadlock to the court, audible gasps from spectators filled the courtroom. Clancy, who appeared in court seated in a wheelchair beside her legal counsel, remained stoic as the announcement was made.

    Legal experts note that jury deadlocks are a far from uncommon outcome in high-stakes, emotionally fraught criminal cases, and the court system has established long-standing protocols for addressing such impasses. Heather Cucolo, a professor at New York Law School and a leading expert in mental health law, explained to media outlets that hung juries are particularly typical of what she described as “complex and emotionally charged trials” such as Clancy’s.

    “If the deadlock does not break, the judge may issue what is commonly called a ‘dynamite instruction’ – known as a Tuey-Rodriguez charge in Massachusetts state courts – which encourages jurors to reconsider opposing perspectives in an effort to reach a consensus, while still upholding each juror’s right to their own honest conviction,” Cucolo explained. She added, however, that this kind of additional instruction is typically only deployed as a last-ditch effort to avoid a mistrial.

    If the jury ultimately convicts Clancy on all three first-degree murder charges, Massachusetts state law requires a mandatory sentence of life in prison without any possibility of parole. If no verdict can be reached, the case will result in a mistrial, leaving open the possibility that prosecutors would have to try Clancy again at a later date.

  • Watch: Judge orders deadlocked Clancy jurors to keep deliberating

    Watch: Judge orders deadlocked Clancy jurors to keep deliberating

    A high-profile homicide trial in Massachusetts has hit a procedural snag, after a jury announced it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case against Lindsay Clancy. Clancy, a 32-year-old Massachusetts woman, stands accused of murdering her three young children in a tragic 2023 incident that unfolded in the basement of the family’s suburban home.

    Following days of deliberation that saw jurors fail to bridge their divides on a final verdict, the presiding judge made the rare decision to direct the deadlocked panel to return to closed-door deliberations in an effort to find consensus. Court observers confirmed that the instruction came after the jury sent a note to the judge indicating they were stuck and could not agree on a guilty or not guilty finding.

    The case has gripped local communities across the state, with the brutal nature of the alleged crimes sparking widespread public discussion about domestic violence, maternal mental health, and access to psychiatric care for at-risk parents. Legal analysts note that while directing deadlocked jurors to continue deliberating is within a judge’s discretionary authority, the move often raises questions about whether a mistrial will ultimately be declared if the panel remains at an impasse. As of the latest court update, jurors have resumed their deliberations, with the public awaiting a final outcome in one of the most tragic criminal cases the region has seen in recent years.

  • One still missing after Grand Canyon floods kill two and prompts rescue efforts

    One still missing after Grand Canyon floods kill two and prompts rescue efforts

    A brutal flash flood that swept through popular hiking trails at Arizona’s Grand Canyon over the weekend has left two people dead and only one hiker still missing, according to updates from the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). What began as an ordinary Saturday on one of the nation’s most visited natural landmarks quickly turned deadly when the sudden flood hit, destroying critical infrastructure and stranding dozens of visitors in low-lying areas.

    The disaster unfolded around 14:30 local time on Saturday, when intense monsoon rains triggered what the NPS describes as significant flooding in Bright Angel Canyon, the location of the park’s most popular hiking route. Floodwaters surged downstream, sweeping away footbridges, dislodging massive boulders, and cutting off access to popular campgrounds and outposts including Phantom Ranch, the area hardest hit by the disaster. By the time emergency crews arrived, at least two adult males had been killed; the NPS has confirmed one of the victims as a 46-year-old man whose body was recovered near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, and officials have declined to release further identifying details at this time.

    When the flood first struck, 30 hikers and visitors were initially unaccounted for. But incident commander Dave Black told reporters at a Monday press briefing that NPS rangers and emergency response crews have worked tirelessly around the clock to locate those missing, reducing the number of unaccounted-for people to just one. “We’ve had a very busy couple of days,” Black noted, praising his teams for their extraordinary efforts to get the rapidly unfolding crisis under control.

    Rescue operations centered on airlifting stranded visitors from Phantom Ranch, with 45 people evacuated by air on Saturday alone. An additional 37 people were lifted to safety by Sunday afternoon. Search crews will resume their hunt for the final missing person on Tuesday morning, focusing on the stretch of trail between Phantom Ranch and Cottonwood Manzanita. The search is complicated by a new forecast for further heavy rain overnight Monday into Tuesday, which brings an elevated risk of additional flash flooding in the already vulnerable area.

    Nikki Baggs, a 41-year-old hiker who was airlifted from the canyon along with two friends, described the chaotic moments when the flood hit to the BBC. “The whole thing was terrifying,” she said. “It was a beautiful day and then people were screaming, running.”

    Preliminary infrastructure assessments released Monday show nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed in the flood. The NPS has instituted a full closure of Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the entire North Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, Black Bridge, Silver Bridge and the adjacent stretch of the Colorado River. Additionally, roughly 40% of the Transcanyon Waterline, which supplies drinking water to park visitors and approximately 2,500 local residents, has been damaged or destroyed, creating a major ongoing challenge for park operations.

    The Grand Canyon draws roughly 5 million visitors every year, making it one of the most popular national parks in the United States, and the Bright Angel trail is its most frequently hiked route. This flooding is tied to the annual North American monsoon season that brings frequent heavy storms to the Southwestern U.S. This time of year, a shift in wind patterns pulls warm, moisture-heavy air north from the Gulf of California and tropical Pacific, which collides with the region’s mountainous terrain to trigger sudden, intense storms. These monsoon storms are notoriously difficult to predict accurately, meaning they can strike with little to no warning. Compounding the risk, the region’s typically parched ground cannot absorb heavy rainfall quickly, so even strong downpours almost immediately spawn dangerous flash floods, while frequent lightning from the storms also increases the threat of wildfires across the Southwest.

  • Woman killed in Times Square stabbing, suspect shot dead by police

    Woman killed in Times Square stabbing, suspect shot dead by police

    One of the busiest tourist hubs in the United States, New York City’s Times Square, was the site of a shocking random violence incident on a Wednesday afternoon that left two people dead and one injured, city officials have confirmed.

    At a press briefing shortly after the attack, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the details of the incident, outlining that a 32-year-old female bystander and the 49-year-old female attacker both died after being transported to a local hospital. The third person involved, a 68-year-old man who was also stabbed, remains in stable condition, Mamdani added.

    NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch expanded on the timeline of the rapidly unfolding attack, which she described as an unprovoked act of random violence. According to preliminary investigation data, the city’s 911 emergency call center began receiving multiple reports of the stabbing at approximately 4:24 p.m. local time. Witness accounts collected by investigators indicate the incident started near the intersection of West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, when the suspect pulled two knives from a red Target bag before approaching her first victim.

    That first victim, the 68-year-old man, had just exited a nearby subway station and was waiting to cross the street with his wife when he was attacked. The suspect stabbed him in the right abdomen, and he was quickly transported to Bellevue Hospital, where his condition has been updated to stable.

    After the initial assault, the suspect continued moving north along Seventh Avenue toward 42nd Street, where she carried out a second stabbing that claimed the life of the 32-year-old female victim. Responding NYPD officers encountered the suspect moments later and attempted to de-escalate the situation for four minutes, ordering her repeatedly to drop her weapons. According to Tisch, the suspect refused all commands, telling officers “I’m not dropping anything, I’d rather kill both of you” and repeating threats to take their lives.

    When the suspect advanced on officers while brandishing her blades, officers first attempted to stop her with a Taser. However, the less-lethal weapon proved ineffective, and the suspect continued moving toward the responding team. Faced with an immediate threat to their safety and the safety of nearby bystanders, officers opened fire, striking the suspect. She was rushed to Bellevue Hospital alongside the other victims, where she was later pronounced dead.

    Investigators have since identified the attacker as Pamela Cisneros, a 49-year-old Queens resident. Tisch confirmed that Cisneros had no prior criminal arrests, but NYPD records show she had documented interactions with police related to mental health incidents in both 2018 and 2019.

    Witnesses who were in the area during the attack described the chaotic scene that unfolded. Melinda Puzon, a tourist visiting New York from Boston, told reporters she heard the gunshots and immediately saw crowds of people scrambling in response. “It’s very shocking,” Puzon said of the incident in one of the city’s most crowded public spaces.

    In his remarks, Mayor Mamdani extended his gratitude to the first responders who acted quickly to contain the threat, noting that their fast intervention “prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse.”

  • Teen girl charged with murder over recording of San Diego mosque attack

    Teen girl charged with murder over recording of San Diego mosque attack

    A horrific mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that left three people dead in May has led to a major legal development, with a 17-year-old girl from North Carolina indicted on multiple murder charges for her role in aiding and abetting the attack. Prosecutors allege the teenager directly facilitated the white supremacist-motivated attack by live-streaming the assault and publishing the attackers’ hateful manifesto after the shooting.

    Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill announced this week that the teen was arrested last week and formally indicted by a grand jury on Monday. O’Neill told reporters the decision to move forward with immediate arrest and charges was rooted in public safety concerns, noting that authorities could not take risks given the upcoming school week and religious holidays. “The thought of her going back to school, with the weekend approaching, holy days approaching, we didn’t know what she was capable of,” O’Neill said at a press briefing.

    The teen now faces three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy. Under North Carolina state law, any individual charged with aiding and abetting a criminal act faces the same level of criminal liability as the perpetrators who directly carried out the violence, O’Neill explained.

    The May 18 attack was carried out by two teenage males, ages 17 and 18, who opened fire on worshippers and other people at the Southern California mosque before dying by suicide. O’Neill confirmed the pair had two core goals for their attack: first, to kill as many people as possible, and second, to record and live-stream the carnage to spread their ideology and inspire further violence. The attackers mounted recording devices on GoPro-style helmets to capture the entire assault.

    Three people lost their lives in the attack: mosque security guard Amin Abdullah, and worshippers Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad. Abdullah acted heroically during the attack, exchanging gunfire with the shooters and initiating a building lockdown that protected roughly 140 children who were inside the mosque at the time. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl previously praised Abdullah’s quick, brave actions, saying they “undoubtedly” saved dozens of lives. Kaziha and Awad were killed in the parking lot after drawing the shooters’ attention away from people inside the building.

    Investigators have since uncovered disturbing details about the attackers’ broader plans and extremist beliefs. The pair held a cache of roughly 30 firearms and a crossbow, all of which were stolen from one of the shooter’s parents. They also plotted follow-up attacks at three additional targets: a nearby Jewish temple and a majority African American high school. The attackers left behind written materials filled with virulent racist and antisemitic rhetoric rooted in white supremacist ideology, and they explicitly cited the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shooter—who killed 51 people in a live-streamed attack—as an inspiration for their violence.

  • ‘No hollow or empty space’: A drone operator reveals challenges in Nepal’s tunnel rescue efforts

    ‘No hollow or empty space’: A drone operator reveals challenges in Nepal’s tunnel rescue efforts

    Just two days before a catastrophic glacial outburst triggered deadly flash floods across the Himalayan border region shared by Nepal and China, local Nepali filmmaker and professional drone pilot Manish Maharjan crossed back into Nepal via the Rasuwagadhi border checkpoint – the same crossing closest to the disaster’s origin. What he did not anticipate on his return home was that his specialized piloting skills would quickly become a critical asset for rescue operations along a route he has traveled extensively for work over the years.

    When catastrophic flash floods struck on August 26, authorities across both countries immediately mobilized dozens of search-and-rescue and relief teams. One day after the disaster unfolded, Maharjan volunteered his expertise to embed with the Nepal Army’s rescue mission. The disaster has already claimed more than 1,000 lives across Nepal and southern Tibet, leaving thousands more unaccounted for.

    Maharjan’s primary role has been operating thermal-equipped drones to support ground teams, with a core focus on locating nearly 900 missing workers from 12 regional hydropower projects that were completely buried under massive mudslides and debris. Of these missing workers, an estimated 500 are thought to have been trapped inside hydropower plant tunnels when the flood hit.

    The drone pilot explained that unmanned aerial systems have proven remarkably effective for pinpointing survivors stranded on isolated hillsides and in hard-to-reach locations such as mountain caves. Beyond thermal imaging to detect body heat, Maharjan’s team adapted creative tactics to draw out trapped people. “We mounted microphone speakers to our drones to call out to anyone who might be stuck. In some areas, we even played music and waited for a response,” he shared. “That tactic actually worked in a handful of cases, and helped us locate survivors who could not be seen from the air.”

    While drones have successfully helped extract stranded people from open terrain, searching the collapsed hydropower tunnels has presented an entirely unprecedented set of challenges, Maharjan noted. When teams have scanned tunnel entrances, they found the structures completely packed solid with mud, dense as toothpaste squeezed into a tube, with no hollow or empty space left inside for survivors to take shelter.

    The disaster originated high in the Himalayas, when scientists analyzing post-event satellite imagery confirmed that a section of bedrock beneath a glacial formation collapsed, pulling a portion of the overlying glacier down with it. The scale of the rockfall was so massive that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event on global monitoring systems. The cascading rock and melted glacial water surged down into the river valleys below, creating a destructive wall of water that swept through communities and infrastructure across both Tibet and Nepal.

    The torrent destroyed critical regional infrastructure, including the under-construction and operating hydropower projects, highways, residential buildings, and bridges. According to Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of Nepal’s Independent Power Producers’ Association, some workers inside the tunnels managed to place emergency calls for help when the flood hit, and workers who successfully escaped confirmed their colleagues remained trapped inside. To date, there has been no confirmed contact with the trapped workers since those initial distress calls.

    As the clock ticks past the critical 72-hour window for rescue, search teams face rapidly dwindling odds of finding additional survivors. Survival experts emphasize that access to clean water and breathable air are non-negotiable for people trapped in disaster settings, and chances of survival drop sharply once the 72-hour mark passes without rescue.

    At the Rasuwagadhi hydropower project, Maharjan successfully maneuvered his drone all the way to the end of the tunnel’s main corridor, scanning every inch for signs of life. No signs of survival were detected. “We checked the space repeatedly, but the entire tunnel was just filled with mud and debris,” he said. “Just looking at the extent of the blockage, you can only imagine the incredible force of the flood that did this.”

    Tunnel search operations remain incredibly difficult beyond the full blockage at many sites, Maharjan added. The layout of most hydropower tunnels limits the ability of drones to operate effectively. “I can only safely and effectively fly drones in long, straight tunnel sections,” he explained. “Once there are bends, turns, or zigzags in the layout, controlling the drone and conducting a thorough search becomes exponentially harder.”