Over 900 missing as Nepal flood tears through 14 hydropower projects

  • Flood tore through 14 hydropower projects near Nepal-Tibet border.
  • Over 900 hydropower project workers remain unaccounted for after flooding.
  • Nepal disaster relief agency reports total missing people exceeds 1,900.

A flash flood on Aug. 26 tore through 14 hydropower projects along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli Rivers near Nepal's border with Tibet, leaving more than 900 people from those sites unaccounted for and pushing the nationwide total of missing above 1,900, according to Nepal's disaster relief agency. Rescuers have pulled survivors from thick mud that filled hydropower tunnels as many fear others remain trapped or dead. The disaster devastated facilities in Rasuwa district, including the 216-megawatt Upper Trishuli-1 project about 70 kilometers north of Kathmandu, where more than 90% of upper facilities and about 90% of the worker base camp were destroyed. Nine South Korean employees remain missing there, including six from Doosan Enerbility, the EPC contractor, and three from Korea Southern Power. Doosan Chairman Park Jeong-won made their recovery the group's top priority and pledged $5 million for search and rescue, while a company response team led by Chief Executive Chung Yeon-in was sent to the site. Nepal's hydropower industry has boomed over the past decade despite the region's exposure to floods, landslides and earthquakes, drawing laborers and engineers to steep river corridors near China.

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