Nepalese hydropower workers have described the moment water from the Trishuli River crashed into their tunnel during deadly flash floods last week. Pemba Dundu Tamang, whose team was constructing a tunnel's concrete lining, recounted a sudden, strong gust of air before the water pursued him for approximately 20 minutes.
Nepal's death toll from the floods has exceeded 1,000, and officials state about 4,000 people are missing. Many of the missing are labourers working in hydropower tunnels along the river, where engineers are currently pumping air as part of a large-scale rescue operation.
Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet confirmed that search-and-rescue efforts are focused on the tunnels, with soldiers also deployed to collect bodies and prevent disease. Tamang lost six family members who were at home by the riverside, while his colleague Itha Ghale lost eight family members.
A new report indicates there was evidence of growing instability around a glacier in the days before the disaster, with satellite images suggesting faster glacier surface movement, brown meltwater, and a developing crack in surrounding rock. Experts suggest that while the avalanche moved too fast for conventional warnings to help those closest, a comprehensive warning system could potentially have saved a significant number of lives further downstream.
Specialists from China, India, and Nepal are continuing to use excavators and heavy machinery to clear debris from hydropower projects, aiming to reach workers still trapped at several sites.