Hopes of finding survivors dim a week after catastrophic Nepal flood
KATHMANDU/BEIJING — Hopes of finding more survivors among thousands still missing in Nepal were fading on Wednesday, but authorities believed that dozens of workers trapped in the tunnels of hydropower projects hit by the Himalayan catastrophe could still be alive.
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A week after a glacier collapse in the Himalayas unleashed flash floods that devastated the mountainous nation, killing at least 1,114 people and leaving nearly 4,000 others missing, rescue operations were focused on the ruins of power plants where those trapped in tunnels could have managed to survive.
Authorities said powerhouses of hydroelectric plants have spaces and rooms for people to stay and rescuers are trying to reach them and look for survivors, with at least 639 people still missing, including those believed to be trapped in tunnels.
“We are very confident that they must be alive after one week because … they have food and water over there in the building,” Amhsu Kiran Shahi, a board member of the Nepal Electricity Authority, told Reuters.
The possibility of finding survivors elsewhere was fading, authorities said, but there was no let up in rescue operations as teams scoured the mountainside along the border with China where floods tore through towns and valleys.
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“The hope of finding survivors is decreasing,” Phanindra Paudel, a senior official at Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC), said. “We pray and are hopeful. Hope is hope!”
Hopes of survivors inside tunnels
Major rescue operations were underway or planned at tunnels at four projects and two of them with a total of nearly 100 people missing offered the strongest hopes of finding survivors because of the presence of air inside, Shahi said.
At Trishuli-3A, one of the two projects, officials believe there was a dry space inside and expected oxygen to be flowing through the tunnel, with pipes also being used to push oxygen inside, Shahi said.
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