Patna, Sep 4: A 12-year-old girl was killed, and four members of her family were injured after a mud house collapsed in Bihar’s Aurangabad district, police said on Friday.

The incident, which happened in Sinhudi village under the Obra police station area, triggered panic in the village after screams and cries for help alerted residents, who rushed to the spot and found the family trapped beneath the debris.

Villagers immediately launched a rescue operation and, after considerable effort, managed to pull all five family members out of the collapsed structure. However, the girl, identified as Babli Kumari, could not be saved.

Her mother, Poonam Devi, and three other children — Nandani Kumari, Rimi Kumari and Kundan Kumar — sustained serious injuries. They were rushed to Sadar Hospital in Aurangabad for treatment, where doctors declared Babli Kumari dead on arrival.

According to villagers, Poonam Devi had been sleeping in the old mud house with her four children, as they did every night, when the walls and roof suddenly collapsed, bringing down the entire room.

The incident plunged Sinhudi village into mourning, while the injured mother and children remain under treatment at the hospital.

Former MLA Rishi Yadav expressed grief over the tragedy and urged the district administration to provide the affected family with a permanent house and adequate compensation.

Obra SHO Nitish Kumar said police received information about the incident and reached the spot. He said a girl had died after being trapped under the debris, while the injured family members were admitted to Sadar Hospital for treatment.

“We have conducted the post-mortem of the dead body and handed it over to the family for the last rites,” the SHO said, adding that further investigation into the incident is underway.

He also said that the case was recommended to the district magistrate’s office for compensation.

The area has experienced heavy rainfall over the past few days, which may have weakened the structure of the mud house and possibly led to its collapse.

Patna, Sep 4: The flood situation in Bihar deteriorated further on Friday as water levels of major rivers, including the Ganga, Gandak, Punpun and Dardha, continued to rise, inundating new areas across the state. According to the Water Resources Department, the Ganga is expected to cross its Highest Flood Level (HFL) at Patna’s Gandhi Ghat and Hathidah in Mokama by Friday night.

The state Disaster Management Department has issued an alert for residents living along riverbanks and in low-lying areas of Bhojpur, Patna, Saran, Vaishali, Nalanda, Begusarai, Lakhisarai and Jehanabad, urging them to remain vigilant and take precautionary measures.

In Patna, the Ganga was flowing 1.17 metres above the danger mark at Digha, 1.67 metres above the danger mark at Gandhi Ghat and 1.32 metres above the danger mark at Hathidah. The Punpun River was recorded at 2.29 metres above the danger mark at Shripalpur, while the Dardha River was flowing 3.07 metres above the danger mark at Kolhachak.

In Bhagalpur, the Ganga rose by 15 cm over the past 24 hours, leading to the re-entry of floodwaters into diara areas of Nathnagar, Naugachia and Pirpainti. Vast tracts of agricultural land, along with standing crops and fodder, have been submerged.

Khagaria remains among the worst-hit districts, with the Ganga flowing 1.01 metres above the danger mark. The Kosi, Bagmati and Burhi Gandak rivers were also flowing significantly above danger levels, heightening concerns of further flooding.

In Raghopur, severe erosion and land subsidence have been reported along a railway line after the near-complete erosion of a marginal embankment. The main channel of the Ganga has shifted dangerously close to the tracks, affecting areas within a two-to-three-kilometre radius.

The Ganga’s water level in Munger rose by 36 cm in the last 24 hours. In Madhepura district’s Alamnagar and Chausa blocks, nearly one lakh people have been affected by floods, prompting authorities to deploy 35 boats for rescue and relief operations.

In Banka district, a diversion road built for an under-construction bridge near Barsanda village was washed away by the strong current of the Mirchni River. Several villages in Saharsa have also been inundated.

Floodwaters have disrupted road connectivity in several districts. In West Champaran, traffic has come to a standstill on the Yogapatti-Chhota Chaumukha-Siswa Mangalpur road, where water is flowing two to three feet above the roadway. Around two dozen villages in Samastipur have been affected by flooding, while several rural roads are submerged. Traffic movement has also been disrupted on the Kachchi Dargah-Bidupur six-lane bridge in Patna.

All panchayats in Raghopur block of Vaishali district have been affected, with nearly 20 panchayats losing road connectivity to the main network, hampering relief operations and the movement of residents.

Kathmandu, Sep 4: Rescuers on Friday pulled out two men alive from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project, which was affected by last week’s deadly floods, raising hopes that others could still be trapped inside.

Nine days after a deadly flash flood tore through the Trishuli River corridor, sweeping away everything in its path and causing extensive damage to dozens of hydropower projects, two men employed at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project were rescued alive.

The Secretariat of the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation confirmed that Kabir Maharjan, 45, a supervisor for the Hydropower Automation Project of Upper Trishuli 3A from Kathmandu, and Sanjaya Sah, 30, a foreman from Saptari district, were rescued alive.

“They are being taken to hospital in Kathmandu after being airlifted,” the secretariat said.

Sah was rescued earlier on Friday, followed by Maharjan, according to the latest information received from the rescue operation.

The rescue followed an earlier breakthrough in which rescuers heard voices from inside the tunnel and established communication with people believed to be trapped there.

The Nepal Army and Armed Police Force intensified efforts to reach them after the voices were heard.

According to local media reports, the rescue team called out to the trapped workers, asking them not to panic, and sustained efforts eventually paid off.

The flash flood on August 26 swept through the Trishuli River valley, killing at least 1,252 people, while 5,053 people remained missing as of Thursday evening, according to the latest situation report released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

The floods also damaged several hydropower projects, including the 60 MW Upper Trishuli 3A Project, as well as key road links. Search teams have since been working in difficult conditions to locate people who may have been trapped inside tunnels and other structures.

According to the minister’s secretariat, a joint team of the Nepal Army and Armed Police Force, including Chinese experts, has been deployed at the site. The team has been using five excavators, compressors and breakers, while tunnel drilling and holing work has been intensified to clear access to the tunnel.

A large rock was located inside the tunnel, and blasting work was carried out to remove the obstruction and facilitate further search and rescue efforts.

The Trishuli 3A hydropower plant was affected by the devastating floods in the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi river systems, which caused extensive damage to infrastructure in the region.

The Independent Power Producers’ Association, an association of private-sector power developers, said on Thursday evening that as many as 945 people working in 11 hydropower projects affected by the floods remained out of contact.