Rescue teams began rappelling into the tunnels of a hydropower plant in Nepal late Sunday as part of an emergency mission to search for survivors who may have been trapped days after devastating flash floods.
A hole about two feet wide has been dug outside the heavily fortified tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-3A hydropower project, officials said, adding that rescue teams are hoping to get inside to determine where workers are in the several-kilometre-long tunnel.
“People used ropes to climb down through the opening and called out to those trapped inside, but there was no response,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Sunday.
Video showed workers wearing harnesses and helmets descending into a dark cave.
“Preparations have reached the final stage to send rescue workers equipped with oxygen, medical supplies, communication equipment and cameras into the tunnel,” the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation said in a news release on Sunday.
“The team is preparing to reach the suspected working space, approximately 180 meters inside the tunnel from the entrance, where they will assess the actual situation, identify the possible locations of the trapped persons and assess the safety situation as precisely as possible.”
Prior to this, the team pumped air into the tunnel and pumped food inside.
According to officials, a total of 90 people have been dispatched to the scene, including the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, armed police, sniffer dogs and search and rescue teams.
Foreign rescue teams are working to clear and search other hydropower projects scattered along the Trishuli River, which winds through several districts. For example, an Indian team is monitoring the Chilime and Langtang areas by helicopter, and a Chinese team is already searching the tunnels of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, a news release from the ministry said.
Authorities met with the families of the missing workers on Sunday and informed them that the government was “doing everything possible to save the lives of our people,” the ministry added.
