Nepal floods: 10 bodies recovered from 2 hydropower projects in Rasuwa

Nepal on Wednesday recovered ten bodies from the Upper Trishuli-1 and Chilime hydropower projects in Rasuwa district, three weeks after floods. Search operations have now been suspended in 10 other impacted hydel projects, with hundreds missing.

10 Bodies Recovered from Hydropower Projects

Nepal on Wednesday recovered ten bodies from 2 hydropower projects while it halts search in 10 other hydel projects which have been impacted by the disaster. Five bodies each were recovered from 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 and Chilime hydropower projects in Rasuwa district, three weeks after the floods hit the bordering district with China on August 26.

“The bodies were found in the Audit-3 tunnel of the Upper Trishuli- 1 by a joint team from the Nepali Army and the hydropower project during an ongoing search and rescue operation,” Druba Prasad Adhikari, assistant chief district officer of Rasuwa, confirmed to ANI over the phone.

Meanwhile, five other bodies were recovered from the Chilime hydropower project on Wednesday itself. The bodies were discovered after a trolley broke through near the powerhouse during a search for people missing inside the tunnels following last month’s floods.

Rescue teams discovered the bodies as they searched the tunnel network for people believed to have been trapped or gone missing following the Bhotekoshi River floods on August 26.

“After several days of challenging hard work in clearing the slush and mud from the Tunnel, the Indian and Nepali teams were able to reach the powerhouse this morning. Unfortunately, they were not able to find any survivors. Mortal remains of 5 persons were extricated,” Naveen Srivastava, Indian Ambassador to Nepal, tweeted.

Chilime Tunnel Rescue update: After several days of challenging hard work in clearing the slush and mud from the Tunnel, the Indian and Nepali teams were able to reach the power house this morning. Unfortunately they were not able to find any survivors. Mortal remains of 5… pic.twitter.com/rSWvJ9sW1q — Naveen Srivastava, Ambassador of India in Nepal (@navsri6619) September 16, 2026

Security personnel have been conducting search and rescue operations in the area since the floods, which caused extensive loss of life and damage to infrastructure in Rasuwa and neighbouring districts.

The identities of the victims and other details were not immediately available, Nepal Army said.

Search Suspended at 10 Projects; Hundreds Still Missing

The Chilime hydropower project has been among the infrastructure affected by the disaster, which also damaged roads, bridges and other hydropower facilities along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors.

Three weeks past the disaster, Nepal has suspended search and rescue operations in 10 of the 13 hydropower projects damaged by the flood.

According to officials from the Nepal Electricity Authority, search operations are continuing only at Chilime, Upper Trishuli-1 and Upper Trishuli-3 'B'.

Search operations have been halted at the 111 MW Rasuwagadhi, 120 MW Rasuwa Bhotekoshi, 5 MW Mailung Khola, 60 MW Upper Trishuli-3 'A', 14.1 MW Devighat and 14.3 MW Upper Mailung projects, among others.

868 People Remain Out of Contact

It comes amid reporting by the Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN), which claims 868 people working across 11 projects has remained out of contact since the August-end disaster.

At the flood-damaged Upper Trishuli-1, the company claims that of the 1,433 workers on site, 497 are still missing, which includes 15 company staff, 47 from Doosan, 335 from Power China, 7 from the consulting firm and 93 from NDIs. A total of 936 have either made contact themselves or been rescued.

Prior to Wednesday’s retrieval of the human remains, another ten bodies were recovered from the same project site.

After extended searching failed to turn up any survivors, the Nepal Electricity Authority has concluded that those buried under the debris at most projects are unlikely to be found alive.

Officials said that with no sign of the missing despite a long search, they have begun treating the missing as dead.

At Chilime and Upper Trishuli-3 'B', however, the search continues with some hope remaining, that too with the involvement of foreign searchers.

The Nepal Electricity Authority has been facilitating rescue and relief at the flood-damaged projects. At Upper Trishuli-3 'A', the Authority itself managed the rescue operation. Chilime and Upper Trishuli-3 'B' are subsidiary companies of the Authority, so their boards take the rescue-related decisions, but the Authority is facilitating with the necessary manpower and other support.

The search for missing workers at the 20 MW Langtang Khola hydropower project was called off earlier. Teams from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force ended the search on September 6.

According to IPPAN, 39 people from that project remain out of contact. Nineteen people who were at the project site during the flood were rescued. (ANI)

Over Rs 134 Billion in Damages Estimated

According to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, the Bhotekoshi flood caused preliminary damage worth Nrs. 134.69 billion rupees to hydropower projects along with solar projects, distribution lines and poles, substations, and transmission lines.

Preliminary estimates put the total damaged generation capacity at 783.39 MW. Of that, 274.76 MW was at projects already in operation: 249.4 MW across seven hydropower projects and 24.34 MW at one solar project.

The ministry's preliminary report also records damage to 508.62 MW across six projects under construction.

Because of the flood, a total of 410.06 MW was disconnected from the national transmission system: 274.76 MW from eight operating projects that were damaged, and 135.3 MW from three projects that were operating but undamaged.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)