Rescue teams began rappelling into a tunnel at a hydropower plant in Nepal late Sunday, as part of an urgent mission to search for survivors who might be trapped inside several days after the devastating flash flood.
A roughly two-feet-wide hole has been drilled through the heavily fortified exterior of the tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-3A hydropower project, officials said, adding that rescue teams were hoping to get inside to identify where in the kilometers-long tunnel the workers might be.
They “descended through the opening using ropes and called out to those trapped inside, but received no response,” the prime minister’s office said on Sunday.
Video showed the workers rappelling downward into the dark cavern, wearing harnesses and helmets.
“The team is preparing to reach the suspected working space approximately 180 meters inside the tunnel from the portal, where it will assess the actual conditions, determine the possible location of the trapped individuals, and evaluate the safety situation as accurately as possible.”
Earlier, the team had also pumped air into the tunnel, and sent food inside.
A total of 90 personnel are on site, including from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force, as well as sniffer dogs and search-and-rescue teams, officials said.
Foreign rescue teams are working to clear and search other hydropower projects, which are scattered along the Trishuli river winding through multiple districts. The Indian team, for instance, is monitoring the Chilime and Langtang areas by helicopter, while the Chinese team has already searched the tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, said the ministry’s news release.
Authorities met with the families of missing workers on Sunday, and told them the government “is leaving no stone unturned to save the lives of its citizens,” the ministry added.
