Hundreds of Nepali hydropower plant workers missing in floods
The death toll from devastating floods in northern Nepal last week has risen to 987, while 3,916 people are still missing, according to government figures released on Tuesday.
Tuesday, 1 September 2026 11:52
Hundreds of workers were still missing at hydropower projects in Nepal's Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts on September 1, The Kathmandu Post reported.
According to IPPAN, the Independent Power Producers' Association of Nepal, contact has not been established with 898 people working at 11 hydropower projects. Authorities do not yet know how many of them were outdoors when the floodwaters arrived and how many may be trapped in tunnels or underground power stations, where access is blocked by water, mud, and debris.
Mithu Khadka, a resident of Dolakha district, said she last spoke to her husband Kamal Khadka during a video call around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Two hours later, the floodwaters hit the hydro sites. “His name is not on the list of the missing nor among those found. I feel like my whole world is gone,” she said.
Kamal Khadka had worked for two years at the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project currently under construction. While 254 people were rescued from the surrounding area, more than 576 people remain missing. Giriraj Adhikari, CEO of the Nepal Water and Energy Development Company, said that people were rescued from the dam area, settling basin, and tunnels, but the headrace tunnel leading to the power house is flooded.
Upper Trishuli-1 is the largest hydropower project in Nepal being built with foreign direct investment. Its dam and related facilities are located in the Haku area of Rasuwa, and the underground power house is in Uttargaya. Prior to the disaster, the project, with an estimated total cost of 64 billion rupees, was 86 percent physically complete.
At the 37 MW Upper Trishuli-3B project in Nuwakot, at least 122 people are missing, including 12 engineers from the Chilime Engineering and Services Company and workers involved in tunnel construction. The Nepal Army stated that it intensified rescue operations on Monday at the tunnel, where the army and the Nepal Electricity Authority began excavations. A Chinese rescue team conducted aerial reconnaissance over both sites before focusing on efforts at Upper Trishuli-1. Upper Trishuli-3B was 65 percent complete before the flooding.
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