Nepal intensifies search for 90 workers trapped in hydropower tunnels, citing possible air and food supply

Nine days after catastrophic floods struck the Himalayan mountain region along the Nepal-China border, rescue authorities are focusing their efforts on dozens of workers believed to be trapped alive inside hydropower plant tunnels. Officials say some tunnels may still contain air, food and water, raising hopes that around 90 people could have survived.

According to Reuters, Nepali rescue authorities are concentrating their search on tunnels at four hydropower plants where hundreds of workers went missing. Rescuers believe about 90 workers may be alive inside two of those tunnels and have directed the bulk of their resources there.

Amshu Kiran Shahi, a director at Nepal's Electricity Authority, said the presence of air inside the two tunnels gives rescuers the best chance of finding survivors. Some tunnels are also equipped with rest facilities and communication equipment, and are believed to still have food and water.

"We are very confident there are survivors inside the tunnels," Shahi said. He added that oxygen pipes installed at the Trishuli 3A power plant may be supplying oxygen to the tunnel interior.

Rescue teams attempted to reach the tunnels at several hydropower plants through Wednesday but were blocked by thick mud, debris and massive boulders, making little headway.

Home Minister Sudan Gurung said Wednesday he had not "lost hope" of finding survivors. A Nepali military official involved in the search said rescue operations would continue "as long as there is hope of finding survivors," adding that teams would recover bodies even if no one was found alive.

The death toll continues to rise. Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has confirmed at least 1,252 deaths inside Nepal as of Thursday. At least 21 more have died in China, bringing the combined toll for the two countries to 1,273.

The number of missing is far higher. A total of 4,757 people remain unaccounted for — 4,216 in Nepal and 541 in China.

China's casualty figures had not changed in recent days, but a land rescue corridor opened Wednesday to the hardest-hit areas near the Gyirong port of entry in the Tibet Autonomous Region. As rescue teams push into the area, additional casualties are being confirmed.

About 1.6 million people — roughly 5 percent of Nepal's population — have been affected by the floods. Some 3,700 households, totaling more than 14,000 people, remain cut off due to washed-out roads and bridges.

More than 7,500 homes have been completely destroyed or buried under mud. Including houses that remain standing but are uninhabitable, officials estimate that around 20,000 new homes will need to be built.

Medical and sanitation conditions are also deteriorating. The UN Population Fund warned that around 4,430 pregnant women in affected areas including Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts are at risk of being unable to give birth safely. UNICEF said at least 22,000 children urgently need access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and hygiene supplies.

The Nepali government has begun restoring severed transport, power and communications networks. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said telecommunications service in the affected areas had been restored to about 95 percent as of Wednesday.

Nepal also plans to rebuild landslide and flood early-warning systems lost along the Chinese border. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said it will install cameras, sensors and satellite communications equipment in Timure, a border village in Rasuwa district, to automatically send warning messages when a landslide or flood is detected.

The search for nine missing South Koreans is also continuing.

South Korea's Korea Disaster Relief Team, which arrived Wednesday at Nepal's request, met with Nepali military officials Thursday to coordinate search zones and methods. KDRT team leader Lee Gyu-ho met with a Nepali military commander in the Batar area of north-central Nepal to draw up a detailed search plan.

Doosan Enerbility, the construction contractor for the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant where the nine missing South Koreans were working, deployed a helicopter to expand the search area from the plant's main camp downstream along the river. Previous searches had focused on the office building and upper weir dam where the workers were last known to be, but yielded no results.

Korea South-East Power also deployed six drones and two search dogs at the site. As of Thursday, the fate of the nine missing South Koreans remains unknown.