An army-led rescue team utilizing thermal drones and engineers has reached the far end of the tunnel at the 111-megawatt Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, finding no indication of anyone trapped inside. Fears had mounted that up to 93 workers could be stranded following severe flooding from the Bhote Koshi river. With the tunnel cleared, the search operation has been called off and rescuers have returned to Dhunche.
Catastrophic Floods Across Nepal
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Devastating Toll: Widespread flash floods—triggered by a severe Himalayan disaster along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers—have left over 900 people dead and roughly 4,500 to 4,700 missing.
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Hydropower Sites Hit Hard: According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) and the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN), hundreds of workers across 11 hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot have been caught in the disaster.
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Ongoing Rescues: While teams have successfully evacuated hundreds of workers from sites like the Upper Trishuli-1 and Langtang Khola projects, authorities continue to struggle to account for thousands of missing individuals as rescue and recovery operations persist.
