KATHMANDU, Sept 16: A joint search and rescue team, including foreign personnel, has found four bodies inside a tunnel of the Chilime Hydropower Project in Rasuwa, where people have been trapped since the Bhotekoshi flood on August 26.
The team had been using an excavator and loader airlifted by helicopter to Syafrubesi to clear debris and construct an approximately 1,050-meter access route to the tunnel by breaking through rocks.
Excavation work of Myagdi Khola hydropower tunnel begins
During debris removal, the team discovered water flowing from inside the tunnel about 70 meters from the entrance. Rescuers entered through the opening and searched up to approximately 130 meters inside, but rising water had reached the upper section of the tunnel, making it impossible to operate the excavator.
On Wednesday, a team including divers entered the tunnel through the opening and searched up to its far end, where they found the bodies.
One of the bodies has been recovered and brought outside, while efforts are underway to retrieve the remaining bodies. The search operation is continuing.
