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The Nepal army rescues survivors from hydropower tunnel at the Trishuli 1 project after Wednesday’s flash floods in the Bhotekoshi River area according to the Prime Minister’s Office. A specialized army unit commanded by Warrant Officer Bhaktajan Basnet from the No. 1 Second Movement Tactical Headquarters worked nonstop in hazardous conditions to complete the extraction of the 350 individuals. The Prime Minister’s Office stated in an announcement that the troops faced an extremely dangerous and challenging situation amid adverse weather and rapid floodwaters while video from the office showed rescuers rappelling from helicopters and crawling through thick mud.
Nepal Army figures show that military teams had evacuated a total of 883 people across Rasuwa by late Thursday preventing greater casualties in one of the worst-affected districts. A second unit led by Second Lieutenant Abhishek Shahi from Dhunche barracks airlifted 533 residents from remote villages including Syabrubesi Timure Mailung Thulo Haku and Hakubesi. These parallel operations formed part of a wider mobilization that deployed 13,295 security personnel nationwide the prime minister reported.
The 216-megawatt Trishuli 1 facility a $647 million venture led by Korean firms and nearing completion sustained heavy damage with roughly 90 percent of its upper dam and worker base camp destroyed according to a Bloomberg assessment. The torrent possibly caused by a partial glacier detachment registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event the US Geological Survey data indicates. One rescued worker told AFP that at least 400 people had been at the site where the disaster unfolded with terrifying speed and more died than were rescued.
Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP that the focus remained on search and rescue with some people still trapped in the tunnel of the Trishuli hydropower project. Efforts persisted into Friday to reach the more than 100 individuals remaining inside the passage as weather and river conditions complicated access. The Prime Minister’s Office added that the army continued working to safely evacuate those left in the same tunnel.
Broader flooding across the region has left at least 390 people dead with more than 1,400 still missing a New York Times dispatch from the area found. Nepal’s foreign minister Shisir Khanal described the event as one of the largest natural disasters in recent memory while local police updates placed the toll near 470 by Friday. Prime Minister Balendra Shah stated that 573 people had been airlifted in 69 flights as relief supplies for around 30,000 affected residents were dispatched.
Separate army actions rescued 98 people including 15 foreign nationals from the Timure area with seven more pulled from another tunnel at a related hydropower site the Directorate of Public Relations and Information reported. Five police officers including a sub-inspector remained missing in the Mailung sector a Bagmati Province official told local outlets. The overall response has prioritized moving seriously injured survivors to Kathmandu for treatment according to government briefings.
