Nepal Rescue Hopes Fade for 900 Missing Hydropower Workers as Mud-Choked Tunnels Stall Search
Updated
Updated · KDRV · Sep 3
Nepal Rescue Hopes Fade for 900 Missing Hydropower Workers as Mud-Choked Tunnels Stall Search
3 articles · Updated · KDRV · Sep 3
Summary
Around 900 workers are now listed missing across 12 hydropower projects along Nepal’s Trishuli River, with officials saying chances of finding survivors are declining eight days after the flash floods.
Thick mud, water and wrecked roads and bridges have slowed access to the tunnels, and a Nepal Army commander said some rescues may take months because the passages are filled with liquid-like sludge.
At Trishuli 3A, crews drilled into the more than 4-kilometer tunnel, lowered rescuers inside and sent in air and food, but got no response; at Langtang Khola, searchers recovered two bodies Thursday.
India and China have sent specialists to assist Nepal, where the wider floods have killed more than 1,200 people and left about 5,500 unaccounted for across Nepal and China.
The disaster is also sharpening scrutiny of the Himalayan hydropower boom, as governments expand infrastructure in a region highly exposed to floods, landslides and climate risks.