Nepali authorities mistakenly identified a British aid worker as a flood survivor and announced his rescue five days after devastating flash floods hit the country. The mix-up occurred when Alastair Chambers, a councilor from Gloucester, arrived in Nepal to volunteer with the NGO Volunteers Corps Nepal.
Authorities announced on Monday that 118 Nepalese people and one British male had been rescued. The Nepali Army's statement on Tuesday confirmed the rescue of 119 people, including a British citizen, via air resources. However, Chambers had traveled to Nepal after the floods to assist in disaster relief, not as a victim requiring rescue.
Chambers arrived in Nepal on August 27, the day after floodwaters swept through the Rasuwa district along the Nepal-Tibet border. The error is believed to have happened when Chambers returned to Kathmandu on a humanitarian aid flight after working in a remote village. He was distributing food and essential supplies to communities cut off by collapsed bridges.
"I got in the helicopter, the humanitarian aid helicopter, and I got dropped off at the army barracks, and when I got dropped off one of the police officers came up to me and asked for my details," Chambers said. "Then they presumed that I’d been rescued. It’s been a bit of a weird one, really."
He explained that after providing his details, authorities assumed he had been rescued. "News spreads – I was contacted by about 15 different journalists in the last few hours, just asking how I was and how I’m feeling after being rescued, and I had to say: 'Well sorry, I haven’t been rescued'." He added, "I thought they seemed very happy when I arrived."
Chambers described the challenging conditions in the flood-affected areas, noting landslides and debris blocking roads. Journeys that should take approximately 1.5 hours were taking eight to nine hours. His group encountered a flood scare and had to move to higher ground before returning to help locate bodies and deliver aid.
The floods, triggered by a glacial collapse in the Himalayas on August 26, caused widespread destruction, sweeping away homes, roads, and buildings. As of Tuesday, at least 1,050 people were reported killed in Nepal, with around 4,000 missing. In Tibet, Chinese officials confirmed 16 fatalities. Approximately 1.6 million people have been affected, particularly in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by landslides and destroyed infrastructure, with thousands still missing. Specialized teams, including those with search dogs and drones, are working in difficult conditions to reach isolated communities and trapped workers at hydropower projects. China has sent additional relief supplies and technical experts to assist Nepal in identifying bodies and with rescue operations.
Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah commented that the disaster underscores the increasing risks in the Himalayan region due to climate change and called for international attention to the issue.