Staff Reports
Rescuers are in a desperate race to reach roughly 900 hydropower workers believed to be trapped in buried tunnels after a violent flash flood ripped through the Nepal–Tibet border. The scenes are brutal: boulders the size of houses, rivers that changed course, and underground passages full of mud and water. This is about saving lives now — and answering who dropped the ball later.
Race to reach hundreds trapped in hydropower tunnels
Industry groups say about 900 workers remain unaccounted for at a dozen or more hydropower sites. Prime Minister Balendra Shah reported hundreds rescued from some plants, including 279 people saved at a single large project, but the missing count still hovers around the 900 mark. Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), says workers called for help from inside tunnels and that oxygen may be running out. Those are the hard facts that make this a clear, time‑critical rescue operation.
How rescuers are trying to reach survivors
Drilling, pumping and controlled blasts
Teams are using heavy gear, aerial scans, drilling and controlled blasting to find tunnel entrances that the flood has buried. Rescuers are pumping air into cleared sections, dropping cameras down boreholes, and moving slowly because the slopes are unstable. Experts warn that the landscape has been so changed by debris flows that some tunnel markers are gone — one adviser compared it to a lunar surface. When the terrain itself is a moving threat, every hour counts.
Diplomacy, delays and who gets to help
The diplomatic dance has been awkward. Nepal’s government first declined some foreign teams but then accepted technical help from neighbors and partners, including China, India, South Korea and Australia. That hesitation matters. Families and industry experts say Nepal lacks the heavy equipment and tunnel‑rescue experience for a disaster of this scale. Offers of help should not be treated like unwelcome sales calls when people are running out of air.
Big picture: hydropower boom, climate risk and accountability
Nepal has pushed hard to build hydropower — hundreds of plants are online or under construction as firms from India and China compete for contracts. That growth created lots of underground work sites and many workers in harm’s way. Add in climate‑driven extreme weather and you get a disaster that tests planning, safety standards, and government judgment. There will be time later for blame and policy fixes. For now the demand is simple: speed up the rescue work, use every available tool and team, and get people out alive. And when the dust settles, Nepali leaders will owe the public clear answers about why offers of help were delayed and what will change next time.
