A drone view shows the aftermath of flash flooding along the Trishuli River amid a freshwater surge warning in the Trishuli Bazaar area of Nuwakot district in Nepal on Sunday.
Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP
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KATHMANDU, Nepal — As authorities in Nepal scramble to rescue more than 900 workers trapped in hydropower tunnels that are still under construction, a top group of the country's private sector power producers has criticized the government's initial hesitance in accepting help from other countries.
The floods and mudslides that were triggered by last week's ice-and-rock avalanche have buried several Himalayan villages in the border region of Nepal and Tibet.
In a statement on Monday morning, local time, Nepal's disaster management department said 903 people have died and 4,247 are currently considered missing, a sharp rise from the previous figures. At least 85 of those missing are Americans, the State Department said on Sunday.
The debris created by the various landslides has also blocked nine hydropower tunnels in Nepal's Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, trapping 933 workers from Nepal, South Korea and China. Videos shared by the Nepali army show rescue personnel using drills and excavator machines to try to rescue those who were trapped.
Bhim Gautam, chief executive officer of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, told NPR that Nepal does not have "enough technology, equipment and expertise" to mount successful rescue operations at hydropower projects. "Our expertise is only in dealing with small flooding. We have never faced a situation like this before," Gautam said.
Last week's floods, he said, not only blocked the entrances of the tunnels, but also made them difficult to locate. "In some cases, the rescue workers spent three days only in finding these tunnels."
He said his industry's leaders had to "pressure the government" to allow rescue workers from other countries. "Late last week, the government approved rescue teams from China, India and Australia to come," Gautam said. "But it is so late now."
Nepal's finance minister, Swarnim Wagle, had last week rejected reports in local and international media that asserted the country had rejected help from foreign countries, insisting that assistance had been accepted only "according to the needs on the ground."
In a statement posted to Facebook on Sunday, Prime Minister Balen Shah said the Nepali army and police, along with experts from India, China and South Korea, were now carrying out rescue operations at various hydropower tunnels.
Army personnel conduct a search and rescue operation for flood victims along the Narayani river at Bharatpur in Nepal's Chitwan district on Sunday.
Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty Images
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The Nepali government has not responded to NPR's request for comment.
Political analyst Chandradev Bhatta says Prime Minister Shah's government appears to have resisted foreign help for geopolitical reasons. He says the decision was likely influenced by Nepal's experience during the 2015 earthquake, which killed thousands in the country.
"During the reconstruction phase, there was a huge competition, not only between our two neighbors China and India, but also the Western powers, who wanted to project their geopolitical power in Kathmandu," says Bhatta, who is based in Kathmandu. By the end, he says, "China managed to gain a geopolitical foothold in the country."
Foreign interference, says Bhatta, is a sensitive topic for the Shah government, which came to power after mass student-led protests ousted the country's leadership and traditional parties, which were variously seen aligning with India, China or the West.
