Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: A rescue team led by the Nepali Army has returned after finding no people during a search inside the tunnel of the flood-affected Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project.
The team, along with engineers and a drone team, had launched a search after suspecting that people might have been trapped at the far end of the tunnel.
According to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the team reached the innermost section of the tunnel and flew a drone to the tunnel’s end, but found no signs of human presence.
After finding no one inside the tunnel, the team ended the search operation and returned to Rasuwa district headquarters, Dhunche.
The Nepali Army has intensified search and rescue efforts at the tunnel of the flood-affected Upper Trishuli 3B Hydropower Project in Nuwakot, where people are suspected to have been trapped.
According to the secretariat of Prime Minister Balendra Shah, a joint team of the Nepali Army and Nepal Electricity Authority continued excavation and search operations in the tunnel on Monday.
Meanwhile, search operations are ongoing at the Upper Trishuli 3B project amid concerns that workers could still be trapped inside the tunnel. A joint search and rescue team comprising 15 soldiers from the Nepali Army’s Bhairabnath Battalion and Nepal Electricity Authority personnel began operations at Upper Trishuli 3B on Sunday.
An additional 16 soldiers from the Bhairabnath Battalion were deployed from 9 a.m. Monday, according to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
