Nepal opens flooded tunnels without knowing whether it will find survivors or bodies
Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Rescue teams in Nepal continued efforts to reach workers believed trapped inside the flooded Upper Trishuli-3A hydropower plant after a flood destroyed the facility and much of the valley.
- Rescuers opened a small passage and used explosives to advance, but water and debris still blocked access nearly 120 hours after the disaster.
- Teams have had no contact with the workers and cannot determine whether anyone survived in dry areas or air pockets.
No one knows what lies beyond the water inside Nepal’s Upper Trishuli-3A hydropower plant. Rescuers believe dozens of workers may be deeper inside, but the tunnel remains flooded to the ceiling and blocked by rock, earth and mud.
On Sunday, rescuers opened a passage measuring only 60 by 90 centimeters. Soldiers descended on ropes and shouted into the tunnel, but received no response. A new blast early Monday allowed teams to advance and assess the reach of the water, though they still had not reached the location where workers were believed to be when the flood swept through the plant and much of the valley on Wednesday.
“If there had been no water inside, we would already have reached the place where we believe they are trapped,” said Shri Ram Neupane, an engineer and tunnel expert involved in the operation. Large excavators are needed to clear the debris, but destroyed roads have made it impossible to bring the machines in directly. They are too large for helicopters, so crews would have to dismantle, transport and reassemble them.
If there had been no water inside, we would already have reached the place where we believe they are trapped.
Military, police, engineers, explosives teams and foreign specialists have worked for almost five days without reaching the workers. Rescue teams have drilled five shafts to introduce air, dug alternative entrances and searched for a cable gallery at the plant. The army attempted two helicopter landings on Wednesday, but bad weather forced both attempts to be abandoned. A team reached the site on Thursday, and the operation focused specifically on reaching people trapped underground began on Friday, according to Nepal’s Electricity Authority.
Rescuers still do not know whether survivors could be sheltering in dry sections, air pockets or elevated spaces. The operation therefore remains suspended between the possibility of finding people alive after five days underground and the possibility of finding no one left to rescue.
We are working with what we have available.
About this summary
Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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