Nepal Hydropower Rescue Mission Intensifies as Flood Trapped Workers Remain Missing

“I still have a 50% hope that he is alive because there is an oxygen system inside,” said Sita Pandey, whose husband was working at the plant when the floods struck, speaking to the Nepalese daily Kantipur.

Nepal depends heavily on hydropower energy and has invested years in developing these projects across its mountainous river systems. Authorities confirmed that at least 11 hydropower facilities—either completed or under construction—were damaged during the recent floods.

Rescue teams began pumping air into a tunnel over the weekend, but families of those still trapped express frustration, believing this effort should have started earlier.

Earlier Monday, a rescue team managed to enter a tunnel leading to one hydropower plant but withdrew after finding no survivors present.

“The longer it takes, the more our hope dies. This operation must move much faster because every second is meaningful to us,” stated Jiban Khadka, whose relative remains trapped inside the facility, in an interview with Kantipur.

“It’s a frustratingly slow operation,” Khadka added.

Nepalese leader Shah announced that rescue operations have been intensified, emphasizing that the floods were “not an ordinary” event.

“This incident highlights how the risks we face in the Himalayan region are escalating alongside climate change.

“It is now time for us to strongly bring international attention to the disasters we are experiencing as a result of climate change,” Shah wrote in a Facebook post late Monday.

Priya Kharel, another family member waiting anxiously for news, shared that her brother Milan was working as an engineer at the Upper Trishuli-1 plant when the floods hit.

“Those who returned from the hydropower site reported people were inside the tunnel. So there is hope that if the army reaches them quickly, they can be saved,” she told BBC News Nepali.

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