Rasuwa, September 4
The search for 191 employees and workers missing at the Upper Trishuli-3B Hydropower Project in Rasuwa is proving increasingly difficult, with rescue teams still unable to locate the buried project building.
Three small excavators are working continuously at the site, removing debris and large rocks from the area buried by the flood and landslide. But the machines have so far been unable to reach the structures where the missing workers are believed to be.
“We are currently digging with three small excavators, but we have not even been able to locate where the building is,” said project deputy director Leela Aryal. “We are removing the large rocks.”
The biggest obstacle is getting a heavy excavator to the site. Landslides have blocked the road, while efforts to cut through the hillside and clear a route for the machine have yet to be completed.
The Upper Trishuli-3B project says effective debris removal will be difficult without a large excavator.
As an alternative, officials are considering dismantling a large excavator into several parts, transporting the pieces to the project site and reassembling the machine there.
Aryal said the project is coordinating with a mechanic team and the road division for the option.
“If we can somehow get the large excavator there, only then will we be able to see meaningful output,” she said. “With the small excavators, we cannot show any visible output.”
However, dismantling and transporting the excavator would itself take time and cannot be completed in a single day, she said.
Nepali Army and Armed Police Force personnel, along with the project team, are involved in the search and rescue operation. There is currently no foreign rescue team at the site, Aryal said.
Teams are also preparing to approach the buried area through an audit tunnel. They plan to remove timber and other obstructions inside the tunnel to clear a passage and use the route from the Audit-2 side to reach and remove debris.
For now, however, the immediate challenge remains reaching the buried structures. With 191 workers still unaccounted for, rescuers are continuing to clear the site with limited equipment while efforts are underway to bring in heavier machinery.
