How engineers in a WhatsApp group are guiding Nepal’s tunnel rescue

A WhatsApp message asking for tunnel drawings has become part of Nepal's desperate search for survivors after a huge flash flood buried hydropower plants in the Trishuli valley.

“Can you send me Chilime layout drawings?” a government official wrote in the engineers’ group on Saturday. Minutes later, another member sent plans of the plant’s powerhouse and details of its access tunnels. The group, which has more than 500 members, was created by engineers before the flood and expanded as the rescue effort grew.

The network now works alongside helicopters and heavy machinery. Rescuers hope that some of the roughly 900 people reported missing from six hydropower plants may have escaped the flood by reaching tunnels. At least three of the plants were under construction.

The first sign that the search could succeed came Friday, when a lawmaker said two people had been brought out alive from a tunnel connected to the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower plant. They survived nine days after the disaster, but many tunnel entrances remain difficult to locate. The flood deposited 2.2 million tonnes of mud and debris across the valley and altered the terrain around the tunnels.

The scale of the remaining search varies by site. Nepal’s Independent Power Producers’ Association said at least eight people could be trapped at Chilime. An official at the Nepal Electricity Authority said 46 may be trapped at the Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant farther south. Government and military officials, engineers, survivors and relatives of missing workers described how specialists are providing real-time guidance through the group as teams examine the damaged tunnel networks.

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Can you send me Chilime layout drawings?