Nepal rescuers focus on three hydropower tunnels holding dozens of trapped workers

Rescue teams in Nepal said on Tuesday they are now focusing search efforts on three hydropower project tunnels where dozens of workers are believed to be trapped, two weeks after a devastating flood struck both Nepal and China's neighbouring Tibet region.

The flooding was triggered on August 26 when a glacier collapsed into a river along the Nepal-China border, sending debris and mud that buried the entrances to tunnels at least 11 hydropower projects, cutting off anyone still inside.

Dharma Raj Upreti, head of Nepal's disaster management authority, told Reuters the biggest focus is on the Chilime hydroelectric project, since it had a canteen, residential facilities and food supplies, raising hopes survivors could be found there. Crews are also working on the Upper Trishuli 3A and 3B project tunnels, which are interconnected — oxygen is being piped in and new equipment has been sent to help open a passage to those trapped.

Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah said late Monday on social media that rescue operations would continue without pause, stressing the government's responsibility to the Nepali people.

Army rescuers said Monday that of roughly 900 people unaccounted for across the hydropower projects, around 121 may be trapped inside the tunnels, while others could have been working elsewhere at the plants, outside the tunnel network.

In recent days, four people have been rescued, including a Chinese national pulled from a tunnel on Saturday, two hydropower workers rescued from another tunnel on Friday, and a Nepali woman freed from her collapsed house on Saturday.

The overall death toll from the mudslide has reached at least 1,399, with more than 5,400 still missing across Nepal and Tibet. On the Chinese side, 43 people have died and 519 remain missing. China's state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday that none of the bodies recovered in Tibet belonged to foreign nationals. Both China and Nepal have attributed the glacier collapse behind the flooding to climate change.