‘I’ll go and see’: Nepal worker alleges Chinese supervisor abandoned workers during flash flood

A worker who survived Nepal's devastating flood alleges that his Chinese supervisor did not allow them to leave when they heard a loud noise and sensed danger. The supervisor said that he would “go and see,” and then fled the mud-filled tunnel as water and debris swept across the Trishuli-3A Hydropower Station in Nepal. The project is being built by China’s Power China Corporation, whose personnel are responsible for supervising engineering work. At least 40 people remain unaccounted for at Trishuli-3A, while around 900 workers are missing from the hydropower projects affected by the floods.

The worker Raj Chettri was working inside tunnel number 3 when the flash flood struck.

“I asked the Chinese supervisor to let us out. He said, ‘I’ll go and see,’ and then he fled,” he said to Lallantop. Moments later, a huge surge of water, mud and debris entered the tunnel; workers, belongings, and vehicles- everything swept away. According to Chettri's estimate, 265 people were working inside the tunnel when the flood struck.

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He made a run for the tunnel entrance and escaped. “Four of us fled. Two are still missing,” he said. “The bodies of many hydropower workers are lying in the tunnel above. Many are still alive. We could hear cries of ‘Save, save.'”

Chettri has also blamed Chinese authorities for their failure to properly alert workers about danger. “What the Chinese government did was wrong. They knew about the flood and landslide,” he alleged. “If we had received information beforehand, many lives and property could have been saved."

Nepalese army, along with foreign experts and volunteers, is carrying out the rescue operations. An Indian rescue team has also joined the Nepalese army to assist search and rescue operations at critical hydropower tunnel sites in Chilime. As rescue teams continue to scour through the debris, more than 900 workers from hydropower projects are missing, with about 500 believed to be inside tunnels. Rescue workers are going through dark tunnels filled with mud, rock and debris, with collapsed sections. They are also facing tunnels that are blocked or damaged. Filmmaker and drone pilot Manish Maharjan, who has been volunteering with the Nepalese army, said some tunnels were “filled with mud like toothpaste in a tube.”