Helicopter pilot describes what he's seen rescuing people in Nepal

Andy Thapa is a charter and rescue pilot for a Nepali helicopter company. He's been rescuing people stranded by the catastrophic flooding, and carrying them to safety.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST: Hundreds are dead and many more are missing after catastrophic flash flooding that began along the Tibet-Nepal border. ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible. No houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now, it's muddy water now. AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak. CHANG: But he did tell us about one man who was able to talk with him. THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which, he lost nine in front of his eye. CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are still many more stranded. FLORIDO: Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel. The weather got too bad to fly. THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions. FLORIDO: He says he'll be back in the air tomorrow to help rescue the rest. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST: Hundreds are dead and many more are missing after catastrophic flash flooding that began along the Tibet-Nepal border. ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible. No houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now, it's muddy water now. AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak. CHANG: But he did tell us about one man who was able to talk with him. THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which, he lost nine in front of his eye. CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are still many more stranded. FLORIDO: Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel. The weather got too bad to fly. THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions. FLORIDO: He says he'll be back in the air tomorrow to help rescue the rest. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Hundreds are dead and many more are missing after catastrophic flash flooding that began along the Tibet-Nepal border. ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible. No houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now, it's muddy water now. AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak. CHANG: But he did tell us about one man who was able to talk with him. THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which, he lost nine in front of his eye. CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are still many more stranded. FLORIDO: Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel. The weather got too bad to fly. THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions. FLORIDO: He says he'll be back in the air tomorrow to help rescue the rest. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Hundreds are dead and many more are missing after catastrophic flash flooding that began along the Tibet-Nepal border. ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible. No houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now, it's muddy water now. AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak. CHANG: But he did tell us about one man who was able to talk with him. THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which, he lost nine in front of his eye. CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are still many more stranded. FLORIDO: Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel. The weather got too bad to fly. THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions. FLORIDO: He says he'll be back in the air tomorrow to help rescue the rest. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible. No houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now, it's muddy water now. AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak. CHANG: But he did tell us about one man who was able to talk with him. THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which, he lost nine in front of his eye. CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are still many more stranded. FLORIDO: Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel. The weather got too bad to fly. THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions. FLORIDO: He says he'll be back in the air tomorrow to help rescue the rest. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible. No houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now, it's muddy water now. AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak. CHANG: But he did tell us about one man who was able to talk with him. THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which, he lost nine in front of his eye. CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are still many more stranded. FLORIDO: Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel. The weather got too bad to fly. THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions. FLORIDO: He says he'll be back in the air tomorrow to help rescue the rest. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

AILSA CHANG, HOST: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers now trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He's a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us. FLORIDO: In one video, a person sits covered in mud on the side of a hill alone. In another, rescue workers pull a man with a wound on his leg out of the helicopter and onto a stretcher. (SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER FLYING) THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of their body were just inside the mud, and they were seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue. FLORIDO: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, though, many people were in bad shape. THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken a