Nepali rescuers raced on Monday in a bid to free dozens of hydropower workers believed trapped in tunnels after devastating floods as search efforts entered a sixth day, officials said.
Nepal's rescue teams are trying to trace 933 workers and employees in various hydropower project sites in flood-hit areas who have been out of contact since August 26, with many believed to be trapped in tunnels.
Rescuers pulled three dead bodies out of two tunnels, finding routes smothered in mud.
Expert teams from India and China are assisting the rescuers in these operations.
Massive flash floods, believed to have been triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal last week. More than 900 people were killed, while around 4,500 remain missing.
The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said on Monday that 933 people were missing from hydropower projects in the flood-hit region.
So far, 279 people have been rescued from the tunnels of various hydropower projects, including 254 people from Upper Trishuli-1 and 18 from the Langtang Khola site. The conditions of the others are unknown.
More than 500 employees, workers and engineers of the 216-megawatt Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project under construction are still out of contact. Around 400 of them are believed to be inside the tunnels, My Republica news portal reported.
Similarly, 213 people are missing in the Upper Trishuli-3B site, 93 in the Rasuwagadhi site, 42 each in the Upper Trishuli 3A and Langtang Khola sites, seven in Melung Khola, four in the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi site and two in Middle Trishuli.
Two people are missing at the Trishuli Hydropower site, 16 at the Trishuli 3B Hub Substation, eight at Chilime, and one each in the Devighat Hydropower Plant and the Rasuwa Distribution Centre.
Nepali Army engineers intensified efforts on Sunday to reach people believed trapped inside the Upper Trishuli-3A project tunnel in flood-hit Nuwakot, using heavy equipment and blasting to widen an opening into the buried structure.
According to an update from the Nepal Prime Minister's Office, a joint 90-member rescue team has been deployed at the site, comprising 66 Nepali Army personnel, including a special search and rescue team with trained dogs, 18 Armed Police Force personnel and six Nepal Police personnel.
The team reached the main section of the tunnel, known as the “crown head” and created a six-square-feet opening. Rescuers descended through the opening using ropes and called out to those inside but received no response, it said.
"When members of the team descended using ropes and called out to those inside, there was no response," Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in an update on Sunday night.
The Nepal Army said on Monday morning that work continues to "clear water, mud, and sediment from inside the tunnel."
Rescue efforts were being continued simultaneously with heavy equipment and blasting, while the opening was being widened to facilitate a faster and more effective operation, according to the PMO update issued Sunday evening.
The Nepali Army has also airlifted excavators and bulldozers to Battar in Nuwakot after dismantling the heavy machinery into sections for helicopter transport, according to the Nepal News web portal.
The tunnel mouth was subsequently located about 40 metres upstream from the vertical hole and about eight metres below it, according to the Ratopati news portal. However, rescuers have yet to reach the workers believed to be trapped inside.
At another site, Upper Trishuli-1, a Chinese team "entered approximately 300 meters (984 feet) into the tunnel and conducted a search, recovering one body", the Nepali Army said.
At the Chilime Hydro tunnel, where Indian teams are deployed, rescuers entered 100 metres inside, but then said it was blocked.
"Farther inside, was buried with mud and soil," the statement added. "During the operation, two bodies were recovered."
Nepali expert mountain rescue teams -- who regularly aid climbers on the world's highest peaks, including Everest -- are also taking part.
Rescue efforts continue to aid the tens of thousands impacted by the devastating floods, with roads smashed and bridges destroyed.
"We are continuing to work for search, rescue and relief operations," Netra Bahadur Karki, Armed Police Force spokesman, told AFP.
"Rescue teams have now reached most areas, by road or by helicopters. Our priority remains rescue and safety of the people."
The Nepal Electricity Authority said 11 hydropower stations and one solar power station, with a combined capacity of 431.1 megawatts, had stopped operating, about 10 percent of the country's installed electricity generation capacity.
Another 15 power projects under construction, with a planned capacity of 470 megawatts, were damaged.
(With inputs from PTI, AFP)
