Nepal tunnel rescues face ‘unprecedented’ challenge

Nepalese army rescue workers are bracing for an "unprecedented" challenge while searching for survivors in Trishuli-3A hydropower project tunnels following flash floods in Rasuwa district, according to Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix. The glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border on August 26 claimed at least 1,385 lives, with over 5,500 people still missing across both nations.

Among those missing are hundreds of hydropower workers, and the rescue efforts are now in their thirteenth day. Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, expressed that this is the most challenging rescue scenario he has ever encountered, involving multiple potential rescues happening simultaneously in various locations, each with its unique dangers and uncertainties.

Despite the national day of mourning, Nepalese Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet emphasized that rescue operations continue at full speed, employing ground, aerial, and tunnel-based methods to ensure no one is left stranded. The rescue of three workers - two Nepalis and a Chinese man - sparked optimism for finding additional survivors.

Foreign experts from China, India, and South Korea, including Dix, are supporting the Nepali teams in their rescue endeavors. Dix, who advised on the Indian rescue of 41 men trapped for 17 days in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in 2023, stressed that their success is measured not only by the lives saved but also by the lives they refuse to abandon.