Particle.news

Two Workers Pulled Alive From Trishuli Hydropower Tunnel Nine Days After Glacier Collapse

Confirming that engineering-led tunnel operations can reach trapped workers, searches continue for hundreds still unaccounted for.

Overview

  • A sudden glacier collapse on Aug. 26 sent a wave of water, ice and debris down valleys on the NepalTibet border and buried multiple hydropower sites and tunnel entrances.
  • On Friday rescue teams extracted two separate workers alive from the Upper Trishuli 3A (Trishuli-3) tunnel after nine days of tunnelling and clearing operations.
  • The survivors received first aid at the scene and were airlifted to a Kathmandu hospital for further care.
  • Authorities report very large and still-changing tolls that exceed a thousand deaths and list more than 900 hydropower employees among thousands still missing, but exact counts and how many were inside tunnels remain unclear.
  • Crews have used excavators, controlled explosives, old topographic maps and satellite imagery with help from international experts to reopen blocked tunnel passages and continue searching for other trapped workers.