Nepal toll hits 955; 4,471 missing as tunnel searchers push deeper
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At least 955 people were killed in flash floods and 4,471 missing across Nepal and Tibet by Monday evening — 639 of Nepal’s 3,925 missing people being linked to hydropower projects, report Vishant Agarwala and Kalyan Das. As many as 27 hydropower plants across Nepal were damaged and around 12 “virtually destroyed”, Australian tunnelling expert Arnold Dix said, underlining the scale of destruction along Bhote Koshi-Trishuli.
Nepal Army spokesman Brig Gen Rajaram Basnet told TOI a rescue team entered Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project tunnel, where 14 people had been feared trapped. “The team, equipped with searchlights and drones, reached the end of the 250m-deep tunnel. However, they failed to find any trace of any person after much effort and returned.” At Chilime Hydropower Project, another joint team comprising foreign experts entered around 100m before encountering a section buried under mud and silt. One of the most difficult operations was at Trishuli-3A, where teams carried out a controlled blast around 2am on Monday, Nepal time, to create an entry portal after struggling to breach the buried tunnel.
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