RASUWA, Sept 19: The bodies of 18 workers who went missing inside a tunnel following the Bhotekoshi flood were recovered on Friday.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashok Thapa, chief of the Rasuwa District Police Office, said the bodies were retrieved from the Upper Trishuli 1 Hydropower Project’s tunnel during search and rescue operations.
Harka Tamang, a social specialist with the project, said the bodies were found about 100 metres inside Adit 3 at Daldung Khola, roughly 5.5 kilometres north of Mailung. The project’s tunnel is 9.8 kilometres long.
Nepali Army personnel and employees of the hydropower company are involved in the search, Tamang said.
Thapa said six workers’ bodies had also been recovered from the same area on Thursday. Further searches led to the discovery of more bodies on Friday.
Police said they had yet to establish how many workers had entered the tunnel for work when the flood struck. The recovered bodies have yet to be identified.
Search and rescue operations have continued for workers trapped or missing inside the tunnel since the flood damaged structures under construction at the project.
The 216 MW Upper Trishuli 1 is a major hydropower project under construction in Rasuwa. The recovery of bodies has left relatives and others connected with the project in mourning.
Police said identifying the bodies had proved difficult because the construction company had failed to keep records of the names and number of workers sent into the tunnel.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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