Rescue crews in Nepal are racing to reach at least 900 missing workers after flooding damaged hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot, with about 500 feared inside tunnels. On Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, the Nepal Army said teams were working at several sites, and Manish Maharjan operated a drone at the entrance to a tunnel at the Rashuwaghadi hydropower project. Nepal Police website reports have put the search in public view as crews try to clear the most dangerous access points.
Rasuwa and Nuwakot tunnels
Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects. Army footage showed rescuers entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud and climbing over rocks as they searched for missing workers. The immediate problem is not only finding the workers, but getting into the tunnels at all.
Access has been hampered by flooding, debris and damaged infrastructure. That makes the search slower inside the projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot, where the missing workers are linked to facilities damaged during the flooding. The number matters because about 500 of the missing workers are believed to be inside tunnels, while the rest are tied to hydropower sites without that same underground access problem.
Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal
Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, said floods damaged at least 12 hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Those projects have a combined capacity of 670 MW, including four under construction, seven operational and one in the testing phase. Dangi described the Aug. 26 flooding as "something unimaginable."
That mix of damaged construction sites, operating projects and a testing-phase project explains why the rescue effort spans more than one worksite. The flooding has also killed more than 1,000 people across Nepal and China, placing the tunnel search inside a wider disaster that has already spread beyond one district and one project.
Basnet said rescuers were still working at several hydropower projects, and the hardest task remains reaching the missing workers before the search narrows to the deepest, most damaged sections of the tunnels.
