Nepal fears hundreds trapped in work tunnels by flooding

Crews worked on Monday to rescue hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in work tunnels buried in mud by the catastrophic floods in northern Nepal last week. Officials were alerted to the workers trapped in the tunnels at hydropower sites by several workers who escaped on Thursday. The Nepali Army rescued 350 workers and locals from one of the tunnels at the Rasuwa Hydropower Project, the Nepal Disaster Agency reported. The Nepali Army posted a video on Friday of its rescue efforts after one of the men flagged down a helicopter after making it to the tunnel’s mouth.

Chinese tunnel experts and the Indian Army aided tunnel rescue efforts alongside around 9,000 Nepali troops, searching for survivors in standing water and mud up to four feet deep. The Nepali Army posted videos of rescuers scrambling through tight spots to push deeper into the tunnels. Officials set off controlled blasts to open up the tunnels, and others were lowered into the holes via harnesses.

Officials warned that though some of the workers may have access to oxygen, the chances of finding survivors were diminishing. According to the Associated Press, roughly 900 hydropower workers were unaccounted for, with at least 500 of them thought to be trapped in the tunnels. While 950 people in Nepal and China were confirmed dead in the flooding as of Monday, nearly 4,500 others remained missing, the Associated Press reported.