13 of trapped workers rescued

POKHARA, APR 27 - Thirteen of the workers trapped inside the tunnel of a hydropower project were rescued on Saturday morning, 14 hours after the incident. The rescuers have pulled out a body while two others are still out of contact, said police.

They were working at the Upper Madi Hydroelectric Project in Sildujure, Kaski, when the tunnel’s ceiling caved in as falling rocks damaged the tunnel ribs and blocked its entrance on Friday afternoon.

The 13 workers survived as air and water were pumped into the tunnel through pipes already installed there as an alternative arrangement after the purpose-built equipment had failed to work.

Superintendent of Police Basanta Lama said that 12 Nepali workers and a Chinese national, You Zhan Ming, were rescued at around 3:30am on Saturday. He informed that the rescue team of Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, project employees and locals drilled a hole into the tunnel and pulled out the workers. The incident site lies about 17km north of Pokhara .

The rescued workers were  then taken to Western Regional Hospital in Pokhara     for health check-up. But they were soon discharged as they were found to be in good condition.

“I thought I would die inside the tunnel. We stayed there remembering family and friends. There was a glimmer of hope as we could communicate with the people outside,” Manoj Pulami, 23, told the Post after his rescue.

According to project supervisor Ganga Dutta Sapkota, the rescuers pulled out the body of Sujan Gurung from the site in the evening. Gurung, a resident of Dulegauda in Tanahun district, was the operator of the excavator buried in the landslide.

Two other workers, Arjun Tamang and Nayan Bahadur Tamang, are still missing. The rescue operation was called off for the day after it started raining in the evening.