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Agence France-Presse

Helicopter rescue teams were working on Friday to rescue around 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project in Nepal swamped by a devastating flood two days earlier.
“Our focus is in search and rescue of people … some people are trapped in the tunnel of Trishuli 3A hydropower project,” Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said.
“Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel. Relief efforts are also under way to provide the rescued people with what they need,” he added.
The prime minister’s office said in a statement that the army had been working in tough conditions.
“A Nepali Army team has successfully rescued 350 workers and locals who were trapped in the tunnel a while ago facing extremely risky and challenging conditions amid adverse weather and rapid floodwaters,” the statement read.
“The army is still working to safely evacuate more than 100 people trapped in the same tunnel.”
It did not give further details about the nationalities of those rescued or trapped.


Devastating floods near the border with China this week have killed at least 579 people in Nepal, its disaster authority said on Friday.
More than 1,400 people are missing, including hundreds of foreigners.
The scale of destruction from devastating floods in Nepal’s northern border region was becoming clearer on Friday, with roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure destroyed and survivors describing scenes of extraordinary devastation.
Workers rescued from other dam projects along the Trishuli valley described a disaster that unfolded with terrifying speed.
“There were at least 400 workers at the site,” Dev Shrestha, who was airlifted from the site where he was working, said after his rescue. “More people died than were rescued.”

Worker Buddha Tamang said he survived only because he was inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked when the flood struck – but he had managed to get out and reach help.
“I survived as I was in the tunnel,” said Tamang, who was airlifted on Thursday after being marooned for more than 24 hours.
“The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away.”
Another worker, Arjun Kumar Tamang, spoke of “massive damage” at the hydropower site where he had been.
“I don’t know how many people died but the force of the water swept everything away,” he said.

The US Geological Survey said the disaster on Wednesday was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.
Climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risks of glacial lake floods and glacial collapses.
The destruction has severed vital links across a mountainous region where roads and bridges are often the only routes.
The damage also extended to Nepal’s key hydropower sector, with several projects – both operating and under construction – hit hard.
The US Geological Survey said the disaster – the deadliest for Nepal since a 2015 earthquake – was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.
In addition, Indian authorities recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be victims of the devastating floods, officials said on Friday.
Authorities are working to identify the bodies, and the seven bodies in India are not included in the overall toll.


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Nepal

Nepal army races to rescue 100 trapped in hydropower tunnel after flash floods

Army personnel escort a woman after her rescue from a flash flood site in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on Friday. Photo: AFP

A helicopter rescue crew ferries victims in Trishuli, Nepal on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

This screen grab shows the Nepali army rescuing a person trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project following a flash flood in Nepal’s Rasuwa district. Photo: AFP/Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal

Damaged houses stand precariously near the swollen, debris-choked banks of the Trishuli River after flash floods in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on Wednesday. Photo: AP

China-Nepal flash flood: 392 dead and over 1,000 missing, including hundreds of foreigners

A rescuer helps a resident through heavy mud following flash floods in Trishuli, Nepal. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Chinese rescuers prepare to head to the stricken Gyirong Port in southwest Tibet on August 27. Photo: Xinhua

China-Nepal floods: debris lake the size of 1,000 Olympic pools in breach danger

A barrier lake has formed after the debris flow from Wednesday’s mudslide in Nepal blocked a river upstream from Gyirong Port on the Chinese side of the border. Photo: Xinhua

A composite of satellite images showing the scale of the disaster at Gyirong Port. The image on the left was taken on Wednesday while the one on the right is the same location in January. Photo: Xinhua

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Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2019, after climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in a record 189 days. Photo: AP

Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja stands on the summit of Nanga Parbat in 2019. Photo: Nirmal Purja/dpa

Broad Peak is the world’s 12th tallest mountain in the Karakoram range of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. Photo: AFP

Nirmal Purja saw this scene, of dozens of mountain climbers lining up to stand at the summit of Mount Everest, in May 2019. Photo: Nirmal Purja

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Asia

South Asia

Helicopter teams are operating in high-risk conditions following a glacial collapse that inundated the Trishuli 3A project


Helicopter teams are operating in high-risk conditions following a glacial collapse that inundated the Trishuli 3A project.


United States

US Geological Survey

Nepal army races to rescue 100 trapped in hydropower tunnel after flash floods

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Helicopter teams are operating in high-risk conditions following a glacial collapse that inundated the Trishuli 3A project

Helicopter teams are operating in high-risk conditions following a glacial collapse that inundated the Trishuli 3A project