Nepalese hydropower workers have told the BBC about the catastrophic moment water from the Trishuli River crashed into their tunnel as the region was inundated by deadly flash floods last week. It started with a sudden, strong gust of air, says Pemba Dundu Tamang, whose team of about 30 was constructing the tunnel's concrete lining. The blast of wind sent plywood flying through the air and dislodged heavy machinery.
Just outside, houses had already been swept away. "I ran towards the tunnel entrance," he said. "The water was chasing behind me and I was running ahead of it." Tamang lost several family members who were at home at the time.
Nepal's death toll has exceeded 1,000 after last week's devastating floods, and officials say about 4,000 are missing. A number of the missing - potentially in the hundreds - are labourers like Tamang, working in a vast network of tunnels at hydropower sites along the river. Engineers have been pumping air into these tunnels as part of a huge rescue operation.
"We are focused on search-and-rescue efforts at the tunnels, our work is continuing," Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told news agency. "Our soldiers are also deployed to collect bodies and prevent the spread of disease." Tamang says he ran for about 20 minutes to flee the violent deluge, which followed him uphill. "I was almost unconscious with shock.
I could not think clearly." His colleague, Itha Ghale, says the powerful gust of air almost blew them away as they sprinted. Over 99% of the electricity generated in Nepal comes from hydropower, and Tamang and Ghale had been working at a major production site helping to build the Upper Trishuli 3B Hydropower Project. The plant, which was due to open next year, was designed to re-use water from a hydroelectric plant further upstream to generate additional electricity for Nepal's national grid.
There were several different teams operating there - and Tamang says the one operating the large tunnel-lining machine was the last to come out. But soon afterwards came a crushing realisation. "I could see where my house should have been.
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