Nepal Floods: Rescue Personnel Race Against Time to Find Workers Trapped Inside Tunnels

Kathmandu: Rescue teams have been unable to locate workers feared trapped inside the tunnel of the Rasuwagadhi hydropower project in Nepal's Rasuwa district. A search conducted using thermal drones inside the tunnel of the 111 MW capacity project yielded no results.

Fears that workers may have been trapped inside the tunnel arose after flooding in the Bhotekoshi river. A team comprising Nepal Army personnel, engineers and drone specialists entered the tunnel to carry out a search, with drones deployed in areas that were too dangerous or inaccessible to reach directly.

It remains unclear whether the missing workers were trapped in the tunnel, managed to escape to higher ground, or were swept away by the floodwaters. Following the operation, a number of rescue teams from India, China and even South Korea have arrived to help in the tunnel rescue operations.

Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has said that 933 people linked to hydropower projects are missing following the floods. So far, 279 people have been rescued from tunnels at various project sites.