Nepal's missing hydropower tunnel workers and the Rasuwagadhi search that found nobody inside

Safety & Advisories Rescuers reached the end of the Rasuwagadhi tunnel and found no one there, and it did not bring 93 workers home because most of them were never in… By Laxman Rawal · Aug 31, 2026 Read the full story

Rescuers went the whole length of the Rasuwagadhi tunnel and found nobody inside. A Nepali Army team reached the far end of the roughly 250-metre tunnel at the 111 MW Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project on Monday 31 August, searched it with a drone, and came back… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

What the numbers actually say

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority put Nepal's toll at 903 dead and 4,247 missing on 31 August, with 10,451 people rescued and 592 foreign nationals among the missing. Uniformed personnel are in that list too, which tells you how… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Project by project, and what has changed since

The Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal counted 934 unaccounted for across 11 projects on 29 August. Below is the picture the companies gave then, and what has happened at each site since. Every figure is provisional. Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Where the rescue has actually reached

The flood comes down the Bhote Koshi before the day shift, taking headworks, quarters and access roads across Rasuwa and Nuwakot. Producers count 934 unaccounted for across 11 projects. Companies admit they cannot enter their own tunnels. Indian and Chinese… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Why it took five days to get the right equipment

Nepal did not have what this rescue needed. Subas Chandra Baral, president of the Nepal Engineers' Association, said the country lacked the specialised skills, equipment and capacity required for large-scale tunnel rescue operations. Indian and Chinese teams… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The people who are actually missing

It is worth being clear about who these workers are, because the coverage keeps sliding into megawatts. They are overwhelmingly Nepali and Indian labourers on rotation, living in site quarters for weeks at a stretch and wiring money home to villages a long… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Everest Base Camp Trek — 14 Days

Plan your trek NMA-certified guides · permits sorted · 5,000+ treks since 1998. $1850 pp Plan this trek

Get the free Nepal Trek Insider Guide

Free guide Permits, costs, seasons and routes — the essentials we send every traveller, plus a free, no-obligation trip quote. ↑ Swipe up Read the full report and grab the free Nepal Trek Insider Guide — or ask our Pokhara team for a tailored, no-obligation quote. Read more & get the free guide Plan my trip — free quote Browse Everest Base Camp Trek — 14 Days