File photo: Nepal Army rescue team navigate through the dark, waterlogged tunnel of the Rasuwa Hydropower Project, in Rasuwa district, Nepal.
Of Nepal’s 3,925 missing, 592 were foreign nationals and 639 were linked to hydropower projects. The overall missing figure had been revised down from 4,247, while the hydropower-linked count fell sharply from 933 as attendance, rescue and missing-person lists were reconciled. NDRRMA said 11,379 people had been rescued.
Nepal army spokesperson Brig Gen Rajaram Basnet told TOI that a rescue team entered Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project tunnel, where 14 people had been feared trapped. At Upper Trishuli-1, rescuers had searched up to around 300m into the Hakku tunnel and 200m at Mailung, while specialist teams and excavators remained deployed at Trishuli-3B. Basnet said Nepal army alone had rescued 3,596 people, including 338 foreigners, by Monday afternoon.
However, they failed to find any trace of any person after much effort and finally returned,” Basnet said. Search and rescue operations are also going on at the Trishuli-3B site,” Basnet said. The latest official update said teams at Trishuli-3A had located the tunnel head and were supplying air through a compressor while draining operations continued, and an alternative route at the rear had been cleared for around 15m.
“The team, equipped with searchlights and drones, reached the end of the 250m-deep tunnel. At Chilime Hydropower Project, another joint team comprising foreign experts entered around 100m before encountering a section completely buried under mud and silt. One of the most difficult operations remained at Trishuli-3A, where teams carried out a controlled blast at around 2am Monday, Nepal time, to create an entry portal after struggling to breach the buried tunnel. “Additionally, two excavators have also been deployed at a depth of around 10m to create an opening and clear water, mud and silt from within the tunnel.