Hundreds Still Trapped... Desperate Struggle Crawling Through Mud

[Anchor]

While news of miraculous rescues has been reported, it is estimated that hundreds of people remain trapped inside tunnels. At the scene, rescue workers are frantically searching for more survivors by digging through piles of dirt with their bare hands and crawling through tight spaces.

This report is from Kim Minpyo.

[Reporter]

Rescue workers who created miracles had to enter through an access route created at the upper part of the hydropower plant tunnel and crawl toward the trapped survivors.

Other power plant tunnels, which were originally accessible through their main entrances, are piled high with mud almost to the ceiling and are submerged in muddy water.

Consequently, rescue operations are being conducted by scouting the interior with drones beforehand and looking for areas likely to have remaining spaces.

While some areas have enough space to approach by boat, others require rescue workers to bend down and manually dig out the mud with shovels or their hands.

[Chinese Rescue Team in Nepal: When we went deeper, the tunnel was completely blocked. Beyond that, there were areas with deep water where team members had to row and use buoys.]

A Nepali employee who survived the first day of the massive flood at a power plant tunnel under construction by South Korea shared the harrowing situation.

[Dan Bahadur Tamang / Nepali Employee: I was able to keep my head above water by grabbing floating debris. I felt like I was going to die.]

Nepali authorities estimate that hundreds of people are still trapped across 12 hydropower plant tunnels affected by the flood.

The hydropower plants built along the Trishuli River are structured to draw water through underground tunnels to generate electricity at power facilities and discharge the water downstream through connected tunnels. If people took shelter in underground resting facilities or air pockets—spaces with trapped air inside the tunnels—additional survivors could emerge.

[Sisir Kanal / Nepali Foreign Minister: Air pockets may exist deep inside the tunnels, and looking at how the tunnels are designed, they slope upward.]

With the death and missing toll exceeding 6,300,

Nepali authorities believe there may still be survivors inside the hydropower plant tunnels and are concentrating their rescue capabilities accordingly.

(Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.