The Nepali Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnyet told France Presse on Tuesday that search and rescue operations continued throughout the morning. "Efforts are being made inside the tunnels," he said. "We do not have new information, but the work is ongoing."
Nine days after the disaster, rescue teams extracted two Nepali workers, Sanjay Sah, 30, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, from a tunnel at the Trishuli-3 dam construction site where they had been trapped. In a video released by Nepali media, Sah said there had been at least 40 to 45 people in the tunnel when flooding struck. "I could not escape alone," he said. "I asked everyone to run."
Nepali authorities initially said about 100 workers were trapped in the tunnel. Dozens of rescue personnel are working in harsh geographic and climatic conditions, conducting excavation, earth removal and debris demolition, assisted by teams from China, India and South Korea. Beyond the two workers rescued Friday, rescue teams have recovered only a limited number of bodies.
The wall of water, ice and debris swept through valleys in the border region between Nepal and China, killing at least 1,325 people — 1,294 in Nepal and 31 in China — according to the latest preliminary toll. About 5,600 people are reported missing, including roughly 800 foreigners.
Nepal's emergency authority said more than 900 workers and staff at hydropower sites, both operational and under construction, remain unaccounted for.
