Possibility of life still alive in tunnel: Lawmaker Neupane

“Let’s not give up hope, don’t stop the rescue efforts — the possibility of life inside the tunnel is still alive,” Neupane said in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.

According to him, on Wednesday, it was planned to take the temporary road to the mouth of the tunnel and remove the mud from the tunnel round the clock by operating night shifts with the help of excavators and mud and stone collectors. However, due to the delay in the power connection, landslides, swamps and explosive activities, the road expansion work could not reach the mouth of the tunnel.

Two more excavation engines have reached the incident site on Thursday and the rescue operation would be expedited as they are some 40 meters away from the road tunnel, Neupane said. He said that a joint team of Nepal Army and Indian Army has been working to clear the mud by hand, carry out necessary explosives and expand the road. “Based on my experience of 12 years of continuous explosions, a controlled explosion with the necessary precautions can speed up the rescue operation instead of hindering it,” Neupane said. He said that his attention has also been drawn to the concern of the project engineers on the basis of about

9 liters of water leaking in the tunnel and 24,000 cubic meters of water may have been trapped under pressure and this could pose a risk.

According to him, according to the design, a maximum of

8 meters of space can be left in the upper part of the hydropower plant after the water and sediment maintain its surface.

He said that considering the 60-meter-long, 20-meter width and 25-meter height, there is no possibility of 24,

000 cubic meters of water being stored in the upper part considering the space in the upper part, the air pressure and the possible entry area of water leakage.