{"id":878404,"date":"2026-09-03T09:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878404\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:28:09","slug":"dozens-of-trapped-hydropower-tunnel-workers-in-nepal-could-still-be-alive-official-says-nepal-tibet-flood-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878404\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens of trapped hydropower tunnel workers in Nepal could still be alive, official says | Nepal-Tibet flood disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a high chance that dozens \u2060of workers may be found alive after a week trapped in an underground chamber at Nepal\u2019s Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant after deadly flash floods<\/a>, a \u2060Nepal electricity authority official has said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn \u200bRasuwagadhi, we think 46 people are trapped in a room-like structure in the tunnel,\u201d Amhsu Kiran Shahi, a board member of the Nepal<\/a> \u2060electricity authority, told Reuters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very confident that they must be alive after one week because … they have food and water over there in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

So \u2060far, Nepali authorities have rescued 279 people from hydropower projects swamped by the unprecedented deluge \u200bof ice, rock, mud and debris, triggered by \u200cthe collapse of a glacier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But at least 639 more were still missing, some of whom \u200care believed to be trapped in tunnels linked to the hydropower projects, where Nepali, Indian and Chinese rescue teams are digging to find survivors.<\/p>\n

The flood, triggered by the glacial collapse near Nepal\u2019s border with Tibet, devastated towns and valleys<\/a> across the mountainous region. At least 1,204 people have been confirmed dead and more than 4,200 remain missing.<\/p>\n

Rescue efforts have increasingly centred on hydroelectric project tunnels where authorities believe workers may \u2060have survived after being cut off by flood waters and debris.<\/p>\n

A turquoise-green house stands tall amid sludge near Trishuli River in the aftermath of flash floods at the Trishuli Centre in Nepal\u2019s Nuwakot district on Wednesday. Photograph: Arun Sankar\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Major rescue operations were under way or planned at four hydropower projects. Two sites, where about 90 people are missing, offered the strongest prospect of finding survivors because of the presence of air inside the tunnels, Shahi said.<\/p>\n

The Rasuwagadhi hydroelectric project, a 111-megawatt facility located in the hard-hit Rasuwa district that lies in a mountain valley about 5km away from the border, was one site rescuers were trying to access on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the only project where it\u2019s possible to walk through \u200cthe tunnel,\u201d Shahi said. \u201cThe army tried doing that three days ago, but they didn\u2019t find the room. We are going in again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rescuers are also looking for \u200bsurvivors believed to be trapped inside tunnels at other locations, where powerhouses have spaces and rooms for people to stay, according to Nepali army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet.<\/p>\n

At the Upper Trishuli 3A facility, another project hit by the floods, it took rescue workers almost six days to find the tunnels \u2060because of thick mud, Shahi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are expecting [survivors] in there because we \u200bare told there is a \u200bdry space inside. We are \u200btrying to break into the tunnel now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are using every technology \u200bavailable in Nepal \u200cright now, and we \u200bare taking help \u200bfrom the Indians, Chinese, Koreans. We have experts from Australia too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disaster created at least 2.2m tonnes of debris, according to a preliminary estimate by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), including parts of buildings, rocks and sediment \u2013 the equivalent of six Empire State Buildings.<\/p>\n

The chance of finding survivors elsewhere was fading, authorities said, but there was no let up in rescue operations as teams scoured the mountainside \u200balong the border with China<\/a> where floods tore through towns and valleys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope of finding survivors is \u200cdecreasing,\u201d Phanindra Paudel, a senior official at Nepal\u2019s national emergency \u200coperation centre said on Wednesday. \u201cWe pray and are hopeful. Hope is hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a high chance that dozens \u2060of workers may be found alive after a week trapped in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-878404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}