On August 30 (local time), AFP news agency reported that Nepalese rescue forces continued to drill, dig and use explosives to find ways to approach dozens of hydro workers believed to be trapped in tunnels filled with mud and rocks.
Rescue operations are entering their fifth day since the flash flood occurred in the Nepal - China border area. Rain, rising river water and dangerous terrain are causing many obstacles for rescue teams.
The Nepalese government said more than 100 workers may still be alive inside many tunnels under hydropower projects. The rescue focus is currently the Trishuli 3A and 3B projects in a valley in the Himalayas.
The Nepalese Ministry of Energy said on August 30 that rescue efforts at the tunnel of the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project in Nuwakot have been strengthened. Nepalese military engineers are breaking rocks with explosives to open access roads.
The Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Agency (NDRRMA), 933 hydropower workers have been missing since a large amount of mud and rocks flooded down on the morning of August 26.
About 90 soldiers and police approached the upper part of the 3A tunnel filled with mud on the evening of August 29. Rescue forces pumped air inside and brought cameras down for inspection.
Rescue teams used drills, excavators, hydraulic cutters and many heavy equipment to drill 4 holes into the buried area. After that, rescue workers used ropes to go down the hole and call the trapped people but received no response.
The Nepalese Ministry of Energy said that the tunnel entrance is currently about 180m from the construction area inside.
Professional tunnel rescue teams from India, China and South Korea participated in the operation. Nepal's mountainous rescue forces were also deployed to another affected hydropower project.
Mr. Surendra Dowluri, a 33-year-old Indian worker, said that floodwaters flooded into the Upper Trishuli-1 area in just a few minutes. 6 workers were trapped in the mud, of which 5 were rescued and 1 died.
According to functional agencies, the affected hydropower projects have a capacity equivalent to about 10% of Nepal's total installed power generation capacity. In addition, 15 projects under construction with a total expected capacity of 470 MW were also damaged.
