Inside a large room on the ground floor of a midrange hotel in central Kathmandu, the air is tense. A couple of coffee tables have been put next to each other to create a longish conference table, and sofas have been placed around it.
There are 10 people in the room. They are all staring at a wall on which a map of the region around the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydroelectric Project has been projected. Around 150 of their colleagues are trapped somewhere in that region.
Nepal’s disaster management authorities said on Monday evening that 639 people were still missing at the sites of 15 hydropower projects – some of which were still under construction – after the catastrophic flash flood swept through the area on August 26.
The Upper Trishuli-1 project, located approximately 70 km north of Kathmandu and 30 km east of Nepal’s border with Tibet, was one of them. With a planned capacity of 216 MW, it was to be the largest project in the Bhote Koshi river corridor.
In the hotel room, the discussion is on ways to rescue the stranded workers. Till which point can a vehicle travel? How long is the walk after that? Could a helicopter help?
This is the war room of the Austrian company Andritz, a project subcontractor that supplies and installs machinery for the hydropower projects. “We set up this hub immediately after the incident happened at 9.30 am on Wednesday. While the Nepalese army continues with its search and rescue operations, the company is putting in its own efforts as well,” Mayank Tomer, country head of Andritz, said.
Sources in the company said around 150 of its more than 250 Indian and Nepali workers remained missing five days after the flood. It is not known how many of them are still alive.
The company has been supplying the coordinates of some of its workers and details of the project’s work to the Nepalese army. It had earlier hired a helicopter to drop food packets to stranded workers.
On Monday, the company got permission to fly a helicopter to the area and directly join the search operations. But the plan had to be cancelled due to heavy rain.
On Tuesday, weather permitting, the company intends to fly four people to the area, while eight others will attempt a 10-hour drive there in two four-wheel-drive vehicles.
When the vehicles can no longer go, they will start trekking. Their one objective: to find as many people as possible, dead or alive.
The company executives do not have equipment to dig deep into the tunnels, but they are hopeful they won’t have to.
“Our camp was just beside the river. The area is now completely under mud, so people may be stuck in the riverbed. It’s an open area, and we can conduct search operations there. We also know the location of some people in the tunnel, and we can try to look for them as well,” Tomer said.
But the team is facing problems even before it has started out. “Why is there no Internet in this room?” someone exclaims in frustration.
The hotel WiFi does not seem to be working, and mobile phone signals are weak. “You have to go out to get connectivity,” another person says.
The team is trying to see the latest Google Earth images of the area. But they don’t have a paid subscription to the software. None of the Nepalis have a credit card. And the cards that the Indians have do not allow international spending.
After five phone calls, a working credit card is arranged. But even the paid subscription does not provide pictures in real time.
The affected area is huge, Timer says. “Our workers can be anywhere in a 15-km stretch. We have identified five spots where we have a better chance of finding someone. The site of the camp and the inlet of the tunnel are our two priority spots,” he said.
“Kya lagta hai? Koi milega? (Do you think we will find someone)” someone in the room asks no one in particular. “Kal Tuesday hai, ek hafta ho jayega (Tomorrow is Tuesday; it will be a week since the flood),” someone else responds.
No one is ready to give up just yet, but hope in the room hangs by a slender thread.
