Five Employees' Bodies Handed Over to Families After Chilime Hydropower Center Incident

Rasuwa. The bodies of five employees trapped in the Chilime Hydropower Center have been handed over to their respective families today. According to Baburaja Maharjan, Managing Director of Chilime Hydropower Company, the bodies of Engineer Santosh Pandey, Electric Supervisor Minraj Moktan, security guards Shyam Bahadur Thapamagar and Tilakbahadur Thapamagar, and Nepal Electricity Authority employee Larkpa Tamang, who were working at the center, were identified and handed over to their families after a flood in the Bhote Koshi River. The bodies were found in the 'Control Room' area, about 150 meters inside the outer part of the center's tunnel, on Wednesday afternoon. According to Managing Director Maharjan, the bodies found inside the center were taken to Nuwakot by Nepal Army helicopter and handed over. A team comprising the commander of the Nepal Army brigade, Indian Army, Armed Police Force, and Authority employees was deployed for rescue. Managing Director Maharjan informed that the flood, which reached about 85 meters above the tunnel located 20 meters above the surface of the Bhote Koshi River, had buried the tunnel and destroyed all structures, including two turbines with an 11-watt capacity. Similarly, Kamal Prasad Pandey, Chief District Officer of Rasuwa, stated that search and rescue as well as relief distribution work are ongoing, a 25-member committee has been formed with a one-month mandate to collect details of the damage, trolleys and makeshift bridges have been constructed over the river to facilitate movement, and necessary medicines and manpower have been arranged for the prevention of potential cholera and disaster-related epidemics and diseases after the flood.