Rescuers in Nepal have pulled two workers alive from a hydropower tunnel on Friday as emergency teams continued an operation to reach others believed to be trapped inside, officials said.
The two men were rescued from the Trishuli 3A tunnel nine days after floods, likely caused by a glacier collapse, devastated towns and swept away villages in Nepal on August 26.
Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane posted about the second rescue on his Facebook page shortly after army spokesperson Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet confirmed the first trapped worker’s rescue. Officials identified the two men as a mechanical foreman and a mechanical supervisor.
Local television news channels showed images of the first rescued worker covered in mud and being carried from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder. Officials said both men were in stable condition and were flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.
At least 557 workers are missing from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the main tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.
Officials present at the rescue site said rescuers believe some people may still be alive inside the tunnel.
Nepal’s Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina said officials remain hopeful that more workers will be rescued.
“We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” Timilsina wrote on his Facebook page.
At least 1259 people were killed in the floods and more than 5000 remain missing, according to the country’s disaster management agency. China, as of late Wednesday, said 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.
About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to local authorities.
Why finding missing workers was so difficult
Access to the tunnels has been hampered by flooding, debris and damaged infrastructure, making it difficult for rescue teams to reach workers.
Basnet said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects. Army footage showed rescuers entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud and climbing over rocks as they searched for the missing.
Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, said floods damaged at least 12 hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, with a combined capacity of 670 MW. Four were under construction, seven operational and one in testing phase, he said.
Hydropower projects undergo risk assessments and other studies before construction, but called the August 26 flooding “something unimaginable", Dangi said.
Flood damage hampers access to tunnels
The biggest challenge for rescuers is reaching them.
Many of Nepal’s hydropower projects are in remote, mountainous areas where steep terrain and narrow roads can make access difficult. Flooding has worsened conditions, damaging roads and limiting routes to some sites.
Rescuers also are facing tunnels that are blocked or damaged.
The floods swept mud, huge rocks and debris into underground passages, collapsing sections and trapping workers. Even where tunnel entrances are accessible, crews must clear large amounts of debris before reaching deeper sections.
Debris obscuring the locations of workers
Finding the missing workers also has proved difficult.
Filmmaker and drone pilot Manish Maharjan, who has been volunteering with the Nepalese army, said some tunnels were “filled with mud like toothpaste in a tube". At one hydropower project, he used a drone to search to the end of a tunnel but found no sign of life.
Some workers called for help during early hours after floods, while others who escaped said colleagues remained underground. It was not clear whether rescuers had since made contact with those workers or whether they were still alive.
Experts say the first 72 hours after a disaster can be critical. People trapped underground may survive without food for some time, but limited drinking water and breathable air can quickly become life-threatening.
Nepal’s rescue capacity being tested
Anil Pokhrel, a disaster risk reduction expert and former head of Nepal’s disaster authority, said the flooding exposed weaknesses in Nepal’s rescue capacity. He said rescuers lost valuable time locating the tunnel’s exact entry point and coordinates and lacked heavy equipment and adequately trained personnel.
“Harsh and remote locations with inclement weather worsened the situation. Also, we didn’t have adequately trained human resources to undertake such operations,” he said.
Nepal has more than a century of experience building tunnels but remains poorly prepared for complex tunnel rescues, Pokhrel said.
“We are focused on tunnel design and construction but are not adequately prepared for rescue operations,” he said.
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