Nepal Floods: Six Bodies Recovered from Hydropower Tunnel as Search Continues

Kathmandu: Six bodies were recovered from a tunnel at a hydropower project in Nepal on Friday as rescue teams continued searching for people missing after devastating flash floods last month killed more than 1,400 people.

The bodies were found inside the Audit-3 tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project in Nuwakot district by a joint team of Nepal's security forces, the Nepal Army said.

The Bhotekoshi flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated several areas of northern and central Nepal. At least 1,410 people had been confirmed dead and 6,145 remained missing as of Thursday, according to authorities.

More than 13,756 people have so far been rescued from flood-affected areas.

The bodies recovered at Upper Trishuli-1 were found trapped in steel reinforcement mesh installed inside the tunnel for concrete work. Rescue personnel used grinders, gas cutters and rotary equipment to free the bodies, the Nepal Army Headquarters said.

The search is continuing inside the tunnel, with rescuers suspecting that additional victims could still be buried beneath accumulated mud.

A joint team that included foreign technicians had earlier entered around 400 metres into the project's main access tunnel to look for missing workers.

Search operations are also underway at several other hydropower facilities, including Rasuwagadhi, Rasuwa Bhotekoshi, Langtang, Trishuli-3A and Upper Trishuli-3B.

At the Chilime hydropower project, five bodies were recovered from a tunnel on Wednesday after Indian and Nepali rescue teams cleared mud and sludge to reach an underground powerhouse. No survivors were found there, according to reports.