More than 4,700 people remain unaccounted for after devastating floods tore through parts of Nepal and China.
NEPAL, — Rescue teams worked urgently Monday to reach hundreds of workers feared trapped inside tunnels at hydropower sites along the Nepal-China border, where catastrophic flooding buried facilities under thick mud. As the confirmed death toll continued to rise, families grew increasingly desperate for news of relatives still missing.
Authorities reported that the combined number of deaths in Nepal and China had surpassed 950, while more than 4,400 people were still missing. In Nepal, a private-sector group representing power companies said at least 900 workers remained unaccounted for across 12 hydropower projects damaged by flash floods in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.
Roughly 500 workers were believed to be trapped inside tunnels at the affected hydropower sites. One expert said some of them might still have access to oxygen, though others cautioned that hopes of finding survivors were fading with each passing hour. Nepal’s army said rescuers had recovered four bodies from three tunnels packed with mud.
Some workers were able to call for help when the floods struck last Wednesday, while others who escaped told officials that many colleagues had remained underground, said Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal, known as IPPAN.
It was unclear whether rescuers have had any contact with the trapped workers since the initial calls for help.
Six days after the disaster, fears were growing that some might have suffocated, Dangi said.
Giant tunnels are built to control water flow
Rescue efforts were focused on people trapped in the gigantic tunnels built for controlling the flow of water.
“These tunnels are big enough to drive trucks through,” said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “And from what we understand, they have managed to get oxygen to some of those stuck inside and are trying to rescue them now. It’s a race for time, though, as people need food and water.”
In the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, in the hard-hit Rasuwa district, at least 576 people were missing, Dangi said, adding that around 300 of them were believed to be trapped inside the project’s tunnel.
At the Trishuli-3 Hydropower Project, crews were working to descend about 50 feet into a tunnel to reach those believed trapped inside, according to Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal’s army spokesman.
Workers shoveling mud from a flood-ravaged power station in Dhading, Nepal, told The Associated Press that the station is a key connection for providing power to over 20,000 people in the region.
Chinese media highlight government efforts to rebuild roads
On the Chinese side, rescue and recovery efforts included rebuilding the road leading to the Gyirong Port border crossing that regulated travel between China and Nepal.
Trucks carried giant rocks as workers tried to repave a portion of the road, state broadcaster CCTV showed Monday, next to rapidly rushing waters, which have been made more powerful by days of rain. The road is now under 6.6 to 9.8 feet of water. The repaving effort was just a little over a kilometer from the border, CCTV said.
Although some rescue teams have managed to reach the border, that represented only a portion of the force.
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Chinese state media coverage has focused largely on the official response, highlighting the deployment of firefighters, the People’s Liberation Army and instructions from top leaders. Little is known about victims on the Chinese side.
Families are desperate for information about missing loved ones
Nepal’s disaster agency said Monday that 939 deaths had been counted in that country, with 3,925 people missing, including 592 foreigners. As of Sunday, Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing. Chinese state media said 261 of the missing were foreigners, including over 100 Nepalis.
Eighty Americans are missing, and 13 have reached safety, the U.S. State Department said.
Two days after the disaster, the owner of an Indian travel company, Maraval Nagappan, traveled to Nepal to search for his missing son. He visited rescue centers and morgues and went as far as 25 miles from where his son was believed to have been, but found no sign of him.
His son, Sathya Narayan, had been leading a group of 49 Indian travelers who were returning from Mount Kailash in Tibet. The group has been missing since floodwaters swept through a Chinese immigration complex where they were waiting to cross into Nepal.
Nagappan, whose Chennai-based company organized the pilgrimage, said the group had been expected to complete immigration formalities and leave for Nepal within about two hours. Instead of making the crossing, they were caught in the flood, Nagappan said.
The pilgrimage began Aug. 14. “I haven’t heard from my son since then. I don’t know whether he is alive or dead,” he told AP.
Surveillance footage showed water surging through the immigration complex at the border as people scrambled to escape. Nagappan said some of those seen fleeing were members of his son’s group and were identified by the clothes they were wearing.
Wednesday’s flash floods started with a glacial collapse high in the Himalayan region. Scientists who studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.
The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, creating a muddy torrent that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.
UN says thousands in need of water, sanitation materials
Nearly a week after the disaster, about 65,000 people need emergency water, sanitation and hygiene materials, the United Nations said Monday.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that more than 22,000 children need protection, 2,600 children younger than 5 will likely need treatment for severe wasting and around 10,500 pregnant and breastfeeding women need nutrition assistance. He also noted schools were damaged or destroyed or are being used as shelters for displaced people.
“More than 10,000 school-age children need psychosocial support, and preliminary reports indicate that 107 children may have been separated from their parents or caregivers,” Dujarric said.
Wu reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Aijaz Hussain, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Victoria Milko in Dhading, Nepal, and Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru, India, contributed to this report.
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