Nepal floods: Army rescues 279, search continues for 894 workers at hydropower projects

Nepali soldiers conducting an operation inside a tunnel to rescue workers after flash floods at Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project site in Rasuwa district. Pic/AFP

The Nepali Army has rescued 279 people from various hydropower projects affected by last week's Bhotekoshi floods, while search and rescue operations continue at several project sites and inside tunnels, Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said.

However, the Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN), an umbrella organisation of private-sector power developers, said Monday that the status of 894 people working at 11 hydropower projects affected by the floods along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors remains unknown.

According to Prime Minister Shah, the Army rescued 254 people from the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, while nine people have been rescued from the Mailung Khola Hydropower Project (5MW). "Search and rescue operations are continuing inside the Upper Trishuli-1 tunnel with the involvement of Nepali, South Korean and Chinese teams," he added. South Korean investors and the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, among others, are investors in this project.

IPPAN said on Monday evening that as many as 573 people working at the 216-MW Upper Trishuli-1 project remain out of contact.

Citing the Nepali Army, Prime Minister Shah said two people were rescued from the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project in Rasuwa. However, no one was found inside the tunnel of the under-construction project. A joint team of the Nepali and Chinese armies searched the inner section of the project after it was suspected that people could be trapped at the far end of the tunnel following flooding in the Bhote Koshi River.

"The rescue team led by the Nepali Army has returned after searching the tunnel of the 111-MW flood-affected project in Rasuwa and finding no people inside," the Prime Minister's Secretariat said earlier on Monday.

Prime Minister Shah said Nepali Army personnel, an Indian rescue team, and Nepali personnel have been working since Monday morning at the Langtang Khola (20 MW) and Chilime (22 MW) hydropower projects in Rasuwa to open the tunnel entrances.

At the Upper Trishuli-3A Hydropower Project (60 MW) in Nuwakot, a 90-member team from the Nepali Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police has been conducting search and rescue operations inside the tunnel, with support from a Nepal Electricity Authority team, according to the Prime Minister.

He said teams have rescued two people from the Upper Trishuli-3B Hydropower Project (37 MW) area. The Army has deployed nine additional personnel there, bringing the total involved in search and rescue operations to 31. The operation began after a Chinese rescue team conducted a reconnaissance of the site.

Similarly, rescuers rescued three people from the Trishuli Hydropower Project in Nuwakot. In comparison, four people have been rescued from a solar power project and another four from the Devighat Hydropower Project.

At the Nepali government's request, Indian and Chinese tunnel technicians arrived in Nepal and have been engaged in rescue efforts to evacuate people trapped inside hydropower tunnels.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the death toll from the deadly floods had reached 939, while 3,925 people remained out of contact as of Monday evening.

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