Chinese Team Scours Flooded Nepal Tunnel for Missing After Mudslides
Chinese tunnel experts searched a flooded Nepal tunnel for survivors, covering 2.5 km but finding no signs of life, as mudslide toll crosses 900.
A specialized Chinese rescue team has been deployed to a flooded tunnel near Nepal's Trishuli River, intensifying the search for hundreds of people still unaccounted for following last week's catastrophic mudslides.
The nine-member team, comprising tunnel experts from China Communications Construction Company, arrived over the weekend at the request of the Nepali government. They were divided into two groups to systematically search the No. 3 tunnel for missing persons.
Conditions inside the tunnel remain extremely hazardous. Rescue efforts have been hampered by severed road links that prevent heavy machinery from reaching the core disaster zone. Rescuers are navigating through significant water accumulation and mud deposits up to 1.5 meters deep, forcing them to crawl through certain sections.
"Roads to the disaster zone have been cut off, preventing large rescue equipment from reaching the core area. There is a lot of water inside the tunnel, and the mud is up to 1.5 meters deep, making it very difficult for rescuers to move," said Zhao Bo, deputy commander of the Chongqing Tunnel Rescue Team.
During the operation, the team employed various methods to detect any signs of life, including calling out, blowing whistles, and knocking on pipes. Despite a comprehensive search covering 2.5 kilometers of the tunnel, no signs of life were found. The team withdrew safely after two hours of intensive searching.
Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported that as of Monday evening, 939 bodies had been recovered from mudslide-hit areas, with 3,925 people still missing.