One body recovered from tunnel at Korean-built power plant in Nepal; identity being confirmed after discovery by Chinese rescue team

[Financial News] One body was found in a tunnel near the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, which a Korean company is building in Nepal. The body was discovered after a Chinese tunnel rescue team, which joined the Nepalese military rescue effort, entered the tunnel. The identity of the body has not yet been confirmed. About 300 people are believed to be trapped in the tunnel, most of them Nepalese nationals. On the 31st local time, the Chinese specialist rescue team was leading the search at the site, reaching as far as 300 meters inside the tunnel and recovering the first body. Nine Korean workers are missing from the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project.
By contrast, the joint government rapid response team led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had focused only on helicopter searches over the past few days, belatedly sent a ground search team the previous day. The helicopter search had made little progress. It has faced difficulties from the outset, with repeated takeoff denials and landing problems preventing a full-scale search. Families of the missing have also voiced frustration, calling for the release of search data.
In a closed briefing to lawmakers from the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee who visited the National Assembly the previous day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that search operations by South Korea and other relevant countries were not currently being carried out in earnest. It also explained that China and India were conducting search work in parts of the site, but only in limited sections of certain tunnels.
Given the severity of the tunnel entrapment crisis, the Nepalese government is selectively allowing entry only to experts from neighboring countries with advanced technical capabilities, including China and India, along with more than 10,000 Nepalese troops.
Hundreds of people are also reported to be trapped inside other hydropower tunnels damaged by flooding in Nepal. Chinese and Indian rescue teams arrived first at those tunnels as well and are carrying out life-saving operations together with the Nepalese military.
At the Trishuli 3A and 3B sites, where more than 100 people are believed to have a chance of survival, Chinese and Indian specialist tunnel rescue teams have joined the Nepalese military by providing equipment. They are carrying out difficult excavation work, including clearing blocked mud and pumping in oxygen, alongside the military authorities. Inside another Chilime Hydropower Project tunnel, an Indian rescue team has entered in cooperation with the Nepalese military and is handling sludge removal and search operations.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter