21 Days of Rasuwa Floods: 4 Bodies Recovered from Chilime Tunnel, 5 from Upper Trishuli-1

On the twenty first day of the catastrophic Bhotekoshi flash flood, four bodies, including one body part, have been recovered from the powerhouse area of Chilime Hydropower tunnel on Wednesday.

Three dead bodies were found without any bodily injury in the tunnel. Chief district officer in Rasuwa, Kamal Prasad Pande, informed that a joint rescue team, comprising the Nepali Army, the Armed Police Force, representatives from Nepal Electricity Authority and Indian rescue persons retrieved the bodies from the power house of the Chilime Hydropower tunnel.

The rescue team was led by the Nepali Army. The August 26 flash flood in Bhotekoshi-Trishuli River corridor had swept away the structures in the Hydropower and blocked tunnel, creating utmost difficulty in search and rescue operation.

However, the joint rescue team led by the Nepali Army continued search and rescue operation battling the odds. Senior assistant at the Hydropower Centre, Kamal Bahadur Kharel, informed that six employees including an engineer, two supervisors, two gatekeepers and an office assistant were on duty in the morning shift when the disaster struck.

On Wednesday itself, a security team mobilized for the search and rescue works in the Upper Trishuli Hydropower Project-1 picked five dead bodies from the audit tunnel of the power plant.

The bodies were recovered from a place 800 metres into the structure from Dalung River of Uttargaya-1. The bodies are in an unrecognizable state, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ashok Thapa. (RSS)