Upper Trishuli-3 ‘B’ Rescue Slows as Heavy Equipment Cannot Reach Site

Kathmandu: The rescue operation to locate workers trapped inside the tunnel of the under-construction 37 MW Upper Trishuli-3 ‘B’ Hydropower Project has been slowed by the lack of heavy equipment at the site.

A rescue team, including employees of the project promoter Trishuli Hydropower Company Limited, has been working for the past four days to excavate the buried tunnel structure following the devastating Bhotekoshi flood on August 26.

Project Managing Director Anand Dhungel said rescue work has made little progress because large excavators cannot reach the site. Roads on both sides of the project were washed away by the flood, leaving the team to rely on a small excavator.

“Working with small equipment is extremely difficult because of the mud and large rocks at the site. Manual excavation is practically impossible,” Dhungel said.

Preparations are underway to deploy two additional small excavators, but the project needs larger machinery to accelerate the rescue operation.

The project team had also explored transporting heavy equipment by helicopter after dismantling it into smaller parts. However, the heaviest component weighs around four tonnes, while Nepal Army’s Mi-17 helicopters can reportedly carry only around 2.5–3 tonnes, making the operation impossible.

According to Dhungel, helicopters with greater lifting capacity, such as the twin-rotor Chinook, are required to transport the heavy equipment. He said the government has taken the initiative to seek assistance from neighboring countries to bring such a helicopter for the rescue operation.