Summary
A huge flash flood tore through Nepal’s Trishuli valley more than a week ago, burying tunnels linked to six hydropower plants. Today, the Nepal tunnel rescue operation depends heavily on an unlikely tool. A WhatsApp group of engineers is now guiding rescue workers as they dig through mud, rock, and debris in search of survivors.
Background
The disaster struck on August 26, when a wall of water, mud, and rock crashed down the Trishuli valley without much warning. The flood swept away roads, machinery, and parts of hydropower infrastructure built along the river.
Officials say around 900 people were reported missing from six hydropower plants in the area. At least three of these plants were still under construction when the flood hit. Authorities hope that some of the missing workers may have escaped the water by fleeing into or working inside the tunnels at the time.
That hope has kept Nepal rescue efforts going for over a week, even as conditions on the ground grow harder by the day.
Details
The scale of destruction has made even the basic task of locating tunnel entrances extremely difficult. The flood dumped an estimated 2.2 million tonnes of mud and debris across the valley floor, according to officials tracking the cleanup.
This is where the engineers in WhatsApp group step in. The group was originally created before the flood for routine coordination between hydropower engineers working in the region. After the disaster, it quickly turned into a live channel for sharing tunnel maps, structural drawings, and technical advice with rescue teams on the ground.
Reuters reporters who spoke with officials, engineers, survivors, and relatives of missing workers described how real-time guidance shared over WhatsApp has become just as important as helicopters and heavy machinery in the search. Former plant employees have also been asked, through the same group, to share details about tunnel layouts they once worked in.
At the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project, rescue workers reportedly took almost six days just to reach the tunnel entrance because it had been completely buried under debris. Once inside, teams tried pumping oxygen through pipes into any open cavities, in case someone was trapped alive and waiting for help.
The Nepal engineering rescue team also focused efforts on the Chilime hydropower plant, located high in the Himalayan valley close to the border with China. Images from the site showed a large tunnel entrance clogged with flood debris, with excavators working to clear a path deep enough to search further inside.
In what officials are calling the first real sign of progress, two people were pulled out alive from a tunnel connected to the Upper Trishuli 3A plant, nine days after the flood first hit. A lawmaker confirmed the rescue, calling it a moment of relief after more than a week of grim searching.
Quotes
Nepal army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet explained why this search is unlike routine tunnel clearance work. He said the flood had reshaped the terrain around the tunnels and altered their internal structure, while mud, rocks, and soil had piled up inside. He was clear that this situation should not be treated as a normal tunnel closure.
A manager at the Nepal Electricity Authority, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said drawings shared through the WhatsApp group had proven genuinely useful for teams trying to navigate unfamiliar tunnel networks under extremely difficult conditions.
Impact
The Nepal tunnel rescue effort has drawn attention well beyond South Asia, partly because of how ordinary technology is being used to solve an extraordinary problem. Engineers who once used the group for scheduling and maintenance updates are now effectively running a live disaster-response network.
Regionally, the flood has renewed questions about the safety of hydropower construction in fragile Himalayan terrain, where sudden glacial or river floods can strike with little warning. Nepal relies heavily on hydropower for its energy needs, and damage to six plants at once represents a significant blow to ongoing energy infrastructure projects.
For families of the missing, the rescue of two survivors after nine days has renewed hope, even as officials caution that conditions inside the remaining tunnels are still unstable and dangerous for rescue teams.
Conclusion
Search operations are continuing at multiple hydropower sites along the Trishuli valley, with engineers, army personnel, and heavy machinery working together. Officials say the WhatsApp group will remain in use as long as rescue operations continue, since it allows engineers based anywhere to instantly share technical knowledge with teams on-site. Authorities have not ruled out finding more survivors, though they acknowledge that the chances shrink with each passing day.
FAQs
What are the latest breaking news in Nepal today? The most recent major news from Nepal centers on the ongoing tunnel rescue operations in the Trishuli valley, more than a week after a devastating flash flood hit the region on August 26. Rescue teams are searching tunnels linked to six hydropower plants, and in the latest development, two survivors were pulled out alive from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A plant, nine days after the disaster. Around 900 people remain listed as missing, and search efforts backed by the army, engineers, and heavy machinery are continuing across the affected sites.
How many engineers are in Nepal? There is no single official count of engineers currently working in Nepal, as the profession spans government departments, private construction firms, hydropower companies, and independent consultants. However, in the context of the current tunnel rescue effort, a large and informally organized group of hydropower and civil engineers has come together through a shared WhatsApp group to support rescue workers with technical drawings and site knowledge of the affected tunnels.
Who was the first engineer in Nepal?
Nepal’s modern engineering history traces back to early infrastructure projects during the Rana period and later development efforts after the mid-20th century, when the country began training its own engineers rather than relying solely on foreign experts. There is no single widely documented individual officially recognized as “the first engineer in Nepal,” as early engineering work in the country was carried out gradually by both Nepali professionals and foreign-trained specialists as the nation’s infrastructure and hydropower sectors began to develop.
