Around 15 workers were today trapped inside a hydropower project tunnel in the western part of the country following a mudslide.

The workers of the 25-MW Upper Madi Hydropower Project in Sildujure of Kaski district – some 250-km away from Kathmandu – were trapped in the tunnel after a mudslide at an entrance of the tunnel at around 1.30 pm.

“There were many Chinese nationals working inside the tunnel,” the project coordinator of Upper Madi Rajaram Koirala, said, adding that they fear some 12 Chinese have also been trapped.

A rescue team from Nepal Police and Nepal Army has managed to open a passageway for the air to pass into the tunnel. The police has sent those trapped inside the tunnel some water after communicating with them through the use of plastic pipe.

China Three Gorges Corporation has been providing more than 80 per cent of the financial support, whereas Sinohydro Bureau 10 of China is the contractor of the Upper Madi Hydropower project.

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