Nepal floods: 933 hydropower workers untraced, many feared in tunnels

Nuwakot,UPDATED: Aug 31, 2026 13:38 IST

Nepal's rescue teams are trying to trace 933 workers and employees at hydropower project sites in flood-hit areas who have been out of contact since August 26, with many believed to be trapped inside tunnels. Expert teams from India and China are assisting in the operations, while officials said more than 600 people are stranded inside tunnels at different project sites.

The 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 and around 4,500 remain missing. The Bhotekoshi River carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.

The Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on Monday that 933 people were missing from hydropower projects in the affected region. So far, 279 people have been rescued from tunnels at various projects, including 254 from Upper Trishuli-1 and 18 from the Langtang Khola site, while the condition of the others is not known. More than 500 employees, workers and engineers of the 216-megawatt Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, which is under construction, are still out of contact, and around 400 of them are believed to be inside tunnels, according to My Republica.

Officials said 213 people are missing at the Upper Trishuli-3B site, 93 at Rasuwagadhi, 42 each at Upper Trishuli 3A and Langtang Khola, seven at Melung Khola, four at the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi site and two at Middle Trishuli. Two people are missing at the Trishuli Hydropower site, 16 at the Trishuli 3B Hub Substation, eight at Chilime, and one each at the Devighat Hydropower Plant and the Rasuwa Distribution Centre.

In flood-hit Nuwakot, Nepali Army engineers intensified efforts on Sunday to reach people believed to be trapped inside the Upper Trishuli-3A project tunnel, 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 was 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 made a six-square-feet opening. Rescuers went down through the opening using ropes and called out to those inside, but got no response. The PMO said rescue work was continuing at the same time with heavy equipment and blasting as the opening was being widened for a faster and more effective operation.

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. Ratopati reported that the tunnel mouth was later found about 40 metres upstream from the vertical hole and about eight metres below it, but rescuers have still not reached the workers believed to be trapped inside. The rescue effort remains focused on reaching those stranded across the damaged hydropower projects.

With PTI Inputs

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