Rescue teams are racing against time to pull workers out of flooded hydropower tunnels following a devastating glacial flood in Nepal. Despite the deployment of thermal drones by the Nepal Army, no signs of life have been detected, raising concerns that many of the more than 900 trapped miners may not survive.
The lack of drone signals may be due to thick tunnel walls and the vastness of the debris‑filled landscape left in the flood’s wake. Each passing hour heightens the risk that the missing workers will perish.
Two army thermal drones have so far failed to locate any survivors, though the distance of the trapped individuals from the drone operation zones remains uncertain. “We are not sure how far the people might have been from the area where the drones were used,” said Colonel Raja Ram Basnet, a Nepal Army spokesman.
A massive flash flood, triggered on Wednesday by a glacier slab collapse along the Nepal‑Tibet border, has claimed at least 675 lives and left more than 2,400 people unaccounted for. Initial estimates of missing persons were around 1,000, but the toll was roughly doubled after hydroelectric projects reported higher numbers of absent workers.
To reach the trapped miners, rescue crews must cut through thick mud and debris, breach reinforced tunnel doors or walls, and sometimes use explosives. Once inside, tunnels are often filled with sludge swept in by the floodwaters. Army footage shows rescuers dragging survivors from caked‑in mud after clearing tunnel entrances.
On Saturday, army personnel were attempting to penetrate a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower site—one of five projects damaged in the flood. Progress was slow, with only about seven yards cleared at the time of the latest report.
A temporary helipad was constructed at the site to allow helicopter landings for supply and evacuation operations, according to an insider familiar with the effort.
Nepal’s hydroelectric sector, a major source of electricity and foreign investment, relies on extensive underground tunnel systems. Many projects, particularly along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, bore the brunt of the flooding.
As of Saturday, 279 workers have been rescued, leaving 933 still trapped, per Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The army-led rescue effort began more than 24 hours after the disaster struck, drawing criticism for a delayed and methodical response.
Critics argue that authorities could have acted more swiftly, given the hazardous terrain and the urgency of the situation. “If there was timely rescue from the areas, some people would have been alive,” said Bhim Gautam, chief executive of the Independent Power Producers’ Association.
Mountaineering guides were on standby from the day of the flood but were not deployed until Saturday morning. Ashish Gurung, an Everest‑climbing veteran, recounted his team’s use of ropes and wooden planks to enter a tunnel at Chilime, navigating through several feet of sludge before hitting a blockage. The team recovered a decomposing body and a severed foot, which they transported to an army cold‑storage facility.
Industry representatives have urged the government to seek international technical assistance to expedite the rescue. “There is no water, no food, there is no anything, there is no oxygen” in the tunnels, Mr. Gautam emphasized, voicing both despair and cautious hope.
On Saturday night, Nepal announced that technical teams from India and China would aid the search. Later, Home Minister Sudan Gurung reported that rescuers had reached the crown of the Trishuli 3A tunnel, where air is being pumped in and excavation work is commencing to send a rescue team inside.
