Nepal rescuers work overnight to reach workers trapped in hydropower tunnels

Kathmandu, Nepal. Nepalese rescue teams, assisted by Chinese and Indian experts, worked overnight to reach hundreds of people believed trapped in blocked hydropower project tunnels after last week’s Himalayan flood.

The flood, blamed on a glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border, killed more than 900 people in Nepal and left nearly 5,000 missing, while also causing deaths and disappearances across the border in China.

Rescue operations

Nepali officials said the priority was reaching hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in about half a dozen hydropower project tunnels blocked by mud and rock debris.

Images and videos released by rescue teams showed earth-moving equipment digging through mud and rocks under lights at night, as workers watched. Soldiers used torchlight in a large pit created to search for an entry point into one tunnel.

“A large amount of debris has been deposited and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels,” Nepal army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told Reuters. “Our main focus is on opening the tunnels.”

Casualties and damage

The unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris swept through valley towns and villages in Nepal after Wednesday’s collapse, carrying hundreds of bodies down from the mountains.

Many bodies, including unidentified victims, have been buried in shallow graves after beginning to decompose in humid weather on the country’s plains.

Nepal’s disaster management authority said 933 people were missing from hydropower projects in the affected region. The Red Cross estimated that more than 90,000 people may have been affected by the disaster, which China has linked to the effects of climate change.

On Monday, Nepali authorities reported 903 deaths and 4,247 missing people, including the 933 missing from hydropower projects. Chinese authorities said 16 people had died in Gyirong County and 546 were missing.

Government response

Prime Minister Balendra Shah described the flood as an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster” and said compiling a complete assessment of the damage remained challenging.