(Central News Agency, Kathmandu, comprehensive foreign news report on the 4th) It has been nearly 10 days since flash floods occurred in the mountainous areas on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Search and rescue workers still have not given up any hope, trying to search for possible survivors in the tunnels of the hydroelectric power plant destroyed by the flood. An expert group on the messaging software WhatsApp also helped guide the search and rescue workers in the rescue operation.
Reuters reported that this WhatsApp expert group, established by engineers before floods, silt and boulders poured into Nepal's Trishuli Valley on August 26, played an important role in the search and rescue of survivors, along with helicopters and heavy machinery.
About 900 people were reported missing from six local hydroelectric power plants, and authorities hoped that some of them might have escaped because they worked in tunnels or hid in tunnels. At least three of these six hydroelectric power plants are still under construction.
Today, nine days after the floods, a member of Parliament said that the first glimmer of search and rescue efforts came with the rescue of two people from a tunnel connected to the Upper Trishuli 3A hydroelectric power plant (Upper Trishuli 3A).
Because flash floods have accumulated 2.2 million tons of sediment and debris in the valley, it is currently difficult to even find the entrance to some tunnels. The tunnels were originally used to divert water or serve as access to hydroelectric facilities.
A government official sent a message to this WhatsApp expert group on August 29: "Can you send me the floor plan of Chilime?" At that time, search and rescue personnel were searching for the buried Chilime hydroelectric power plant in the mountains near the Chinese border.
A few minutes later, someone in the group chat room uploaded a floor plan of the power plant and detailed information about the entrance and exit tunnels. The group was later expanded to include more experts to support search and rescue efforts.
The Independent Power Producers' Association of Nepal said on August 31 that at least eight people may be trapped at the Chilimi Hydropower Plant; officials from the Nepal Electricity Authority said that as many as 46 people may be trapped at the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Plant further south.
Reuters interviewed more than a dozen people, including government and military officials, engineers, survivors and family members of missing workers. They described search and rescue efforts in tunnels at the damaged hydroelectric power plant, and how experts provided real-time guidance via WhatsApp.
"The floods have changed the terrain and structure around the tunnel, and silt, soil and other debris have also accumulated in the tunnel. This is not an ordinary tunnel closure," Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told Reuters.
Images taken by Reuters on August 31 showed that at the Chirimi Hydroelectric Power Plant, not far from the entrance to a huge tunnel, sediment and debris brought by floods had accumulated to nearly the height of the ceiling.
Floods caused by glacier collapse in Nepal's border mountains last week killed more than 1,200 people, and more than 4,000 are still missing, including people who may be trapped in tunnels.
In addition to the Chirimi power plant, search and rescue personnel are also searching five other hydroelectric power plants in the valley. The power plants are part of an expanding electrical grid that supplies electricity across the country and exports excess electricity. The floods destroyed 10% of Nepal's power generation capacity.
At the Rasuwagadi Hydroelectric Power Plant, search and rescue personnel entered one of the tunnels 250 meters and found that the tunnel was blocked, but they did not give up the search.
"We are trying to go deep inside the tunnel again to find people," said Amshu Kiran Shahi, a member of the Nepal Electricity Authority's board of directors. He added that 46 people may be trapped in a room and they may have access to food and water.
An official from the Nepal Electricity Authority, who requested anonymity, said rescuers also sought advice on the tunnel network from former power plant employees through a WhatsApp group. He said the graphic designs uploaded by the group were very helpful.
Shahi said that at the 3A hydroelectric power plant project in Upper Trisuli, it took search and rescue personnel nearly six days to enter the tunnel because the entrance was buried. Before rescuing survivors today, search and rescue crews have been trying to deliver oxygen through pipelines to gaps where trapped people may be.
A Reuters photographer who flew to the site yesterday saw excavators trying to remove boulders from the mouth of the tunnel and pushing deeper.
Jan Jiwan Thakur, a civil engineer working on the Upper Trishuli 1 power plant project, said that before the flash floods poured into the valley, his colleagues warned him of the impending flood, giving him enough time to climb to higher ground with about 100 people inside the facility.
He said: "We ran desperately up the hillside, and after two or three minutes we looked down and everything was gone. The large amount of sediment brought by the flood completely covered our office area."
In a WhatsApp expert group, members provided the names and mobile phone numbers of missing workers, asking government officials to forward them to telecommunications authorities in the hope of finding out their last recorded location.
Meanwhile, family members like Rajesh Shrestha are anxiously waiting for news about their missing relatives. His 30-year-old son Rajish is an environmental engineer at the Upper Trishuli 1 power plant.
