Families of Missing Workers in Nepal Hydropower Tunnels Demand Faster Rescue

Nearly two weeks after a devastating glacial flash flood tore through Nepal’s riverside villages, the families of workers still missing in hydropower tunnels are losing patience. About 50 relatives gathered at Kathmandu’s Maitighar Mandala on Sept. 7, holding photographs of loved ones and demanding that the government speed up the rescue operation.

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My husband might still be alive inside, trapped, he could be saved. Why is the army not prioritising the rescues inside the tunnel?

At least 50 people are suspected to be trapped inside a tunnel at the Trishuli 3B hydropower project on the Trishuli river. Sumana Chhetri Amatay, whose husband Sumesh has been missing since the flood, said he could still be alive underground. “My husband might still be alive inside, trapped, he could be saved. Why is the army not prioritising the rescues inside the tunnel?” she said.

The protest came on the 13th day after the flood, when Hindu families traditionally perform final funeral rites for their dead. Sumana said she had received neither good nor bad news about her husband, leaving the family without closure. Sumesh, a senior geologist, had worked at the Trishuli project for seven months. The flood struck on the morning he was due to leave to see his sister Reena off at the airport.

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It is the 13th day since the flood, it is when Hindus do the final funeral rites for our loved ones.

Reena, who works as a healthcare assistant in London, said her brother might be suffocating inside the tunnel while waiting for help. “But the Nepal authorities are just not doing enough,” she said. Their hopes had been lifted when two workers were rescued from the Upper Trishuli 3A project on the 10th day, followed by the rescue of 64-year-old Chandrika Shashtra from Betrawati Bazar on the 11th. Those rescues have since given way to growing impatience.

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My brother must be suffocating inside the tunnel... hoping someone is coming to rescue him... But the Nepal authorities are just not doing enough.

Another family at the protest feared for engineer Somnath Poudel, who is believed to be trapped in the Trishuli 3B tunnel. His wife and two-year-old twin daughters were in staff quarters beside the river, and relatives have heard nothing from them since the flood. A WhatsApp group of 140 relatives was created after the disaster to coordinate searches, file missing-person complaints and provide DNA samples.

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The children and their mother are unlikely to have survived under the mud. My cousin, maybe he is alive in the tunnel. We have to know.