Nepali rescue teams continued searching on Monday for more than 100 hydropower workers feared trapped in tunnels following catastrophic floods that devastated towns and villages along the Himalayan border with Nepal and China. The search marked the 13th day after the disaster, traditionally the final day of mourning in Hindu rites, as the country grappled with hundreds of deaths.
About 121 of a total 900 people missing from hydroelectric projects could be trapped in tunnels, according to army rescuers. Others may have been working elsewhere at the power plants but not inside the vast network of tunnels. Among those rescuers were trying to locate on Monday were four out of six people missing at the Chilime hydropower project in the hard-hit Rasuwa district who could still be alive, according to Shri Ram Neupane, a lawmaker involved in rescue efforts.
Authorities had obtained specialized equipment and identified techniques needed for the Chilime operation, Neupane said. Rescuers believe survivors could be trapped inside tunnels because many have air pockets, as well as spaces and rooms for people to stay. In recent days, search teams have rescued four people, including a Chinese national pulled from a tunnel on Saturday, two hydropower workers rescued from another tunnel on Friday, and a Nepali woman pulled from her buried house on Saturday.
The disaster was triggered on August 26 when a huge mass of mud and rock, following the collapse of part of a glacier, crashed into a river along the Nepal-China border. The resulting floods washed away towns and villages and buried roads and highways under mud and debris. At least 1,380 people have been killed by the mudslide and more than 5,500 are missing in Nepal and Tibet.
Nepal has requested urgent international supplies, including high-capacity drones, Bailey bridges, DNA testing kits, tunnel rescue suits, and items for epidemic prevention. Chinese officials reported that workers had recovered 12 more bodies as the search continued for hundreds still missing in Tibet. Many among the missing are Indians or people of Indian origin who were in the area for trips to Lake Mansarovar and Mount Kailash, holy Hindu pilgrimage sites.
President Ram Chandra Paudel was touring flood-hit areas on Monday to survey damage caused by the disaster. Security personnel at the district jail in Nuwakot, one of the two worst affected districts, saved 923 prisoners by shifting them to higher ground before flood waters entered their low-lying building on August 26, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said.
What This Means for Expats: Indian expats and those of Indian origin should be aware that many missing persons in Tibet are connected to pilgrimages to Lake Mansarovar and Mount Kailash, and families have faced challenges obtaining information from Chinese authorities about missing relatives.
Source: Kuwait Times
Add a comment