Rescue Efforts Intensify at Flood-Hit Chilime Tunnel

India’s Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, stated on Sunday that the joint India-Nepal technical team is steadily advancing with search and rescue operations inside the Chilime tunnel, despite challenging conditions such as poor access routes, mud, and heavy debris. In a post on X, Srivastava noted that the teams are working hard inside the tunnel and have begun establishing a rope connection between Syaphrubesi and the tunnel to facilitate the entry of additional personnel. “Search and rescue operations in Chilime tunnel: Despite difficult conditions like poor roads, mud, and heavy debris, the joint technical team from India and Nepal is working hard to advance inside the tunnel,” the Ambassador said. He added that teams have started work on establishing a rope link from Syaphrubesi to the tunnel to send more people inside. Srivastava stated, “Meanwhile, work on constructing a temporary road towards the tunnel is also progressing, and approximately 950 meters of the path have been cleared.” These developments coincide with an official notice from the Nepal government requiring foreign journalists—who gather news from flood-affected areas along Nepal’s Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers—to obtain press accreditation and journalist identity cards from the Department of Information and Broadcasting (DoIB). This also follows an alert issued by Nepali authorities for the Budhi Gandaki river basin after floods struck the hilly region of Gorkha. The alert was issued due to flooding in the Therang River, which flows through wards 4 and 2 of the Chumanubri Rural Municipality in Gorkha district. According to officials, four houses and a suspension bridge were washed away by the floodwaters this morning. The destruction of the bridge is expected to cause difficulties for tourists trekking in the Manaslu region. Earlier on Saturday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that a joint India-Nepal rescue team continued clearing debris, water, and mud from the Chilime tunnel in Nepal’s flood-affected Rasuwa district, while work on creating a path for heavy machinery was also progressing gradually. The MEA noted that the joint Indian technical team continued to face challenges related to the terrain and access routes during rescue operations at Chilime. A 3-tonne excavator was transported in parts to Syabrubesi, where it will be assembled and moved to the Chilime tunnel once the temporary access path is fully ready. Meanwhile, the manual removal of mud and debris from the tunnel continued. Australian tunnel expert Arnold Dix also visited the site and interacted with the team. Regarding another aspect of the relief operations, the MEA reported on Saturday that a refrigerated truck sent from India to assist in the preservation and management of bodies had been deployed in Nuwakot. The MEA also stated that an Indian forensic team, operating through two laboratories in Kathmandu, helped accelerate the process of extracting DNA samples, analyzing them, and finalizing profiles. According to the latest figures released by the Nepal Police, 1,341 people have lost their lives in the Himalayan nation due to devastating floods and massive landslides. Later, the death toll was revised to 1,331 as search and rescue operations continued on Saturday; additionally, a Chinese national was rescued from the audit tunnel of the Upper Trishuli 1 Hydropower Project, and a 64-year-old woman was rescued from Betrawati in Nuwakot.