On the 4th, nine days after a massive flood swept through the Himalayan mountain region on the Nepal-China border, two Nepali employees were dramatically rescued from a hydropower plant tunnel damaged by the flood.
The chances of survival are also rising for hundreds of employees believed to be trapped in several power plant tunnels. In particular, as rescue work continues near the hydropower plant where nine missing Korean employees worked, the Korean rescue team is expanding its search.
The Nepali government said rescue teams including the Nepali Army found and rescued two survivors while searching the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant tunnel in Bagmati Province in the north-central region that day.
The first rescued employee was identified as Sanjay Sah, the plant's mechanical foreman, and the second as mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan.
Video released by local TV and the Nepal Ministry of Energy showed a mud-covered Sah being pulled out of the tunnel by rescuers as cheers erupted around him. Sah stood up with the help of a rescuer and was then carried on someone's back to a helicopter.
According to local media, Sah told Nepali Army medical staff who examined him on site that inside the tunnel he communicated by words and sounds with three or four people who were near him. It suggests more people may be alive deep inside the tunnel.
Ram Neupane, a Nepali lawmaker who joined the search, also said he heard people's voices inside the tunnel that day. He said, "When the rescue team shouted, 'Don't panic. We've come to rescue you,' a reply of 'Understood' came from inside the tunnel."
The two survivors were transported to a military hospital and are being treated in intensive care. A hospital official told Reuters their key vital signs, including pulse, breathing, and body temperature, were stable.
Nepalese rescue authorities have been conducting searches, believing hundreds of employees are isolated in several hydropower plant tunnels. They are focusing resources on two plants including Trishuli 3A, where they believe about 90 people may be alive in the tunnels.
The Trishuli 3A hydropower plant is downstream from the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant, where nine missing Korean employees worked. The two plants are about 6 kilometers apart across the Trishuli River.
The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) will conduct intensive searches that day along routes near the plant where the missing may have evacuated. Using two helicopters supported by the Nepali Army, they plan to carry out aerial searches as weather permits and also conduct ground searches.
Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility, which are in charge of the plant's construction, also expanded on-site search personnel and scope. KOEN has divided 25 local workers into two teams to conduct ground searches, and Doosan Enerbility has secured one helicopter and plans to focus searches on downstream areas as soon as flight clearance is granted.
Meanwhile, the human toll from the massive flood is growing by the hour. According to Nepal's Disaster Management Agency, as of that day at least 1,287 people had died and 5,083 were missing in Nepal. Including 21 deaths and 541 missing on the Chinese side, the total rises to 1,308 dead and 5,624 missing.
As power and communications are restored, damage reports are newly confirmed in areas that had been cut off, and the human toll could rise further.
Most recovered bodies are so badly damaged that identifying them is difficult. As morgue freezer capacity at hospitals nationwide reaches saturation, Nepali authorities are temporarily burying unidentified bodies after collecting DNA samples, taking photographs, and recording identifying information. There is backlash that this runs counter to Hindu cremation traditions, but authorities said the bodies are decomposing rapidly and the measure is unavoidable for public health.
Economic losses were estimated at at least 387.5 billion Nepali rupees (about 3.47 trillion won). It is expected that about $52.6 million (about 71.2 billion won) will be needed just for initial recovery, including restoring roads and power grids, setting up shelters, and supplying drinking water.
The Nepali government has defined the disaster as a calamity brought on by climate change, and Prime Minister Balen Shah plans to attend the U.N. General Assembly, which opens in New York on the 8th, to call on the international community for climate action and compensation for damages.