Kathmandu, August 31, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A Nepali Army-led rescue team found no one inside the tunnel of the flood-hit 111-MW Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project in Rasuwa on Monday, while the whereabouts of 93 people working on the project remain unknown.
The search operation was launched after concerns that workers could have been trapped at the far end of the tunnel following flooding in the Bhote Koshi River.
The rescue team, accompanied by engineers and a drone team, reached the innermost section of the tunnel, including its endpoint, and conducted an extensive search using drones.
“However, no signs of human presence were found during the operation,” Nepal’s Prime Minister’s Secretariat said.
After confirming that nobody was inside the tunnel, the team called off the search and returned to Dhunche in Rasuwa.
Nepal is continuing search and rescue operations at 11 hydropower projects affected by floods in Rasuwa and Nuwakot along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors.
According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN), 897 people employed at the 11 flood-affected hydropower projects in the two districts remain out of contact.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said seven Indian nationals and 15 Chinese nationals who had been trapped at hydropower projects were rescued on Sunday.
At the request of the Nepali government, Indian and Chinese tunnel specialists have joined the rescue operations to help evacuate people believed to be trapped inside hydropower tunnels.
The Indian Embassy in Nepal said on Monday that an Indian tunnel rescue team was continuing search operations following last week’s devastating floods in the Bhote Koshi River.
“The tunnel rescue team from India worked with the Nepali Army’s team to conduct search and rescue operations at hydropower tunnel sites in the Chilime and Langtang areas today,” the embassy said.
The Indian team will continue the operations in coordination with the Nepali Army, the embassy added.
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