Nepalese rescue authorities are concentrating their search on hydropower plant tunnels where hundreds of workers are believed trapped, as deaths and disappearances mount from massive flooding and landslides that swept the Nepal-China border region. Hopes for finding survivors have risen on the possibility that air, water and food remain inside the tunnels.
Nepalese rescue authorities are searching tunnels at four hydropower plants, including Rasuwagadhi and Upper Trishuli 3A, where hundreds of employees are missing, Reuters and AFP reported on the 3rd.
Authorities see the highest chance of finding survivors in the tunnels at the Rasuwagadhi and Upper Trishuli 3A plants, where about 90 people are believed missing.
"There is air remaining inside the tunnels," said Amsu Kiran Shahi, a director at the Nepal Electricity Authority, expressing hope for the search. Some tunnels contain spaces where workers can communicate or rest, and food and water may remain in those areas, he explained.
At the Rasuwagadhi plant, about 46 people are believed trapped in room-like spaces inside a tunnel. Shahi said he understands they had stockpiled water and food inside the structure, and that he is confident they remain alive even now, a week later.
Between 30 and 40 people may remain at the Upper Trishuli 3A plant. Oxygen pipes are installed there, raising the possibility that oxygen is still being supplied inside the tunnel.
Blocked by Massive Boulders and Debris, Nine Koreans Missing
The difficulty lies in the rescue operation itself. The Nepalese army and others had earlier tried to reach and search several hydropower plant tunnels, but thick mud, debris and huge boulders blocking the entrances made finding the missing difficult.
The Rasuwagadhi plant sits in a mountain valley about 5 kilometers from the Nepal-China border. Shahi said it is the only plant whose tunnel can be traversed on foot, and that the army had searched earlier but failed to locate the interior spaces.
The Nepalese army plans to continue searching as long as any chance of survival remains. Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said they have obtained information that dry space exists inside the tunnel, adding, "We expect there are survivors there."
The search also continues at the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant, where nine South Koreans are missing. The Korea Disaster Relief Team received two Nepalese army helicopters to search the area from the air but turned back after strong winds and rain limited visibility. Helicopter searches will resume once weather improves.
Doosan Enerbility, the plant's builder, also deployed a helicopter and widened its search area from the upper weir dam and office buildings to the lower reaches of the river. Korea Southern Power has deployed six drones and two search dogs at the site.
1,280 Dead, 5,624 Missing: Search to Continue While Hope Remains
The human toll from the flooding and landslides continues to climb. Nepal's disaster management authority put the death toll on the Nepalese side at at least 1,259, bringing the combined total for both countries to 1,280 including 21 deaths in China.
The missing total 5,624, with 5,083 in Nepal and 541 in China. Damage figures keep rising as communications and power networks are restored, revealing previously unconfirmed losses, and as rescue routes open in China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
An estimated 1.6 million people, about 5% of Nepal's population, have been affected. Severed roads and bridges have isolated more than 3,700 households and 14,000 people, and roughly 20,000 homes have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable and must be rebuilt.
The Nepalese army says it will pursue the search to the end. "We will continue search and rescue operations as long as there is hope of finding survivors," Basnet said. "Even if there are no survivors, we will recover the bodies."
He added that Nepal is mobilizing every technology available in the country and receiving help from India, China and South Korea, and that experts from Australia are also taking part in the search.
