Search teams from Nepal, India and China race to reach workers as hundreds remain out of contact at flood-hit hydropower sites…reports Asian Lite News Desk
The Nepali Army has rescued 279 people from hydropower projects devastated by last week’s catastrophic floods along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors, as search operations continued inside damaged tunnels for hundreds of workers still unaccounted for.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said rescue teams had evacuated 254 people from the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project and nine from the 5MW Mailung Khola Hydropower Project.
Search and rescue operations were continuing inside the Upper Trishuli-1 tunnel with Nepali, South Korean and Chinese teams involved in the effort, he said.
However, the Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN) said the status of 894 people working at 11 flood-affected hydropower projects remained unknown.
Of particular concern, IPPAN said 573 people associated with the 216MW Upper Trishuli-1 project were still out of contact.
At the flood-hit 111MW Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project in Rasuwa, two people were rescued, while a joint Nepali and Chinese search team found no one inside the project’s tunnel.
The tunnel was searched amid fears that workers may have been trapped after floodwaters surged through the Bhote Koshi River. The rescue team later returned after completing its search of the inner section.
Operations were also underway at the Langtang Khola and Chilime hydropower projects in Rasuwa, where Nepali Army personnel and an Indian rescue team were working to open blocked tunnel entrances.
At the 60MW Upper Trishuli-3A project in Nuwakot, a 90-member team comprising the Nepali Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police was carrying out searches inside tunnels with support from the Nepal Electricity Authority.
Two people were also rescued from the Upper Trishuli-3B project area following reconnaissance by a Chinese rescue team. Elsewhere, rescuers evacuated three people from the Trishuli Hydropower Project, four from a solar power project and another four from the Devighat Hydropower Project.
Indian and Chinese tunnel experts were deployed following a request from the Nepali government to assist efforts to reach anyone trapped underground.
The wider disaster has caused devastating losses across Nepal. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 939 people had died in the floods, while 3,925 others remained out of contact as of Monday evening.
