By Sarita Chaganti Singh
Sept 2 (Reuters) – There is a high chance that dozens of workers may be found alive after a week trapped in an underground chamber at Nepal’s Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant following deadly flash floods, a Nepal Electricity Authority official said on Wednesday.
“In Rasuwagadhi, we think 46 people are trapped in a room-like structure in the tunnel,” Amhsu Kiran Shahi, a board member of the Nepal Electricity Authority, told Reuters.
“We are very confident that they must be alive after one week because … they have food and water over there in the building.”
So far, Nepali authorities have rescued 279 people from hydropower projects swamped by the unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris, triggered by a glacial collapse near the country’s border with China.
But at least 639 more were still missing, some of whom are believed to be trapped in tunnels linked to the hydropower projects, where Nepali, Indian and Chinese rescue teams are digging to find survivors.
‘GOING IN AGAIN’
The Rasuwagadhi Hydroelectric Project, a 111-megawatt facility located in the hard-hit Rasuwa district, lies in a mountain valley some 5 km (3.11 miles) away from Nepal’s border with China.
“This is the only project where it’s possible to walk through the tunnel. The army tried doing that three days ago, but they didn’t find the room,” Shahi said. “We are going in again.”
Rescuers are also looking for survivors believed to be trapped inside tunnels at other locations, where powerhouses have spaces and rooms for people to stay, according to Nepal’s army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet.
At the Upper Trishuli 3A facility, another project hit by the floods, it took rescue workers almost six days to find the tunnels because of thick mud, Shahi said.
“We are expecting (survivors) in there because we are told there is a dry space inside. We are trying to break into the tunnel now,” he said.
“We are using every technology available in Nepal right now, and we are taking help from the Indians, Chinese, Koreans. We have experts from Australia too.”
The disaster created at least 2.2 million tons of debris, according to a preliminary estimate by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including parts of buildings, rocks, and sediment, the equivalent of six Empire State buildings.
(Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Saad Sayeed)
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