Over 900 Dead in Nepal Floods as Tunnel Search Goes On
Rescuers are digging into Trishuli hydropower tunnels where about 933 workers are believed trapped, while fresh rain blocks roads and hampers the search.
The Toll and the Tunnels
Flash flooding in Nepal has killed more than 900 people, with confirmation of those deaths reported by BBC News Hindi, and around 4,000 people are listed as missing.
About 933 workers are believed to be trapped inside tunnels belonging to hydropower projects across the country. Rescue crews are concentrating on three of them, Upper Trishuli 1, Trishuli 3A and Trishuli 3B, some of whose tunnels connect to one another.
Trishuli 3B draws water from the 3A project. Upper Trishuli 1 is the highest hydropower scheme on the river and was still under construction when the flood arrived. In total, workers are suspected to be trapped in tunnels linked to around 13 hydropower projects.
Rescue Efforts and Foreign Teams
On Sunday, rescuers cut a large hole to get into the Trishuli 3A tunnel. BBC News Hindi reported that Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the team called loudly into the tunnel and received no response from inside.
Officials have turned to explosives in the hillsides. A controlled blast was carried out at about 2am on Monday at the Trishuli 3A site in Rasuwa in an attempt to open a route into the project.
BBC Nepali correspondent Sanjay Dhakal reported that soldiers entered the tunnel at the Rasuwagadhi hydropower project and found no one there, having used drones to search inside. Rescue teams from India, China and South Korea have arrived to assist. Nepal's government says it needs outside help with technical work such as tunnel rescue and with DNA identification of bodies.
Rain, Roads and Relief
Heavy rain is continuing. Dainik Bhaskar reports that alerts have been issued in 31 districts of Nepal, and BBC News Hindi says more rain is forecast in the north of the country over the next few days, making rescue work harder.
The Prithvi Highway linking Narayanghat to Kathmandu is completely blocked again. According to Dainik Bhaskar, a landslide near Krishnabhir on Sunday morning sent about 50 feet of road into the Trishuli river and left serious cracks along a 200 metre stretch. Police halted traffic in time, and Kathmandu is currently cut off from its main routes.
The Trishuli and Bhote rivers join the Narayani near Mugling, which is known as the Gandak in the Indian state of Bihar. East Champaran and West Champaran districts are on high alert, with NDRF and SDRF teams placed on standby. At the Galchhi relief camp, Dainik Bhaskar reports a sharp exchange between RSP member of parliament Ashika Tamang, who alleged delays in handing out relief supplies, and ward councillor Deepak Karki, who said he had never received the supplies at all.
Families Still Waiting
BBC News Hindi spoke to Priya Kharel, who is trying to find out what has happened to her brother Milan Kharel, an engineer at the Upper Trishuli 1 project. He is thought to be trapped in a tunnel.
She said people who came back reported that there are still people inside the tunnel, and that she hopes they can be saved if the army finds them soon. She has been unable to get any information about his condition, adding that his name did not appear on the lists of the missing, the rescued or the dead.
It is not yet known how many of the trapped workers are alive.
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