Officials say that Nepalese rescuers are focusing on 900 workers from the hydropower sector, but 121 of them could be trapped underground.

Rescuers in Nepal searched for over 100 hydropower workers trapped in tunnels on Monday, days after four miraculous rescues of towns and villages that were ravaged by catastrophic floods on the Himalayan border between China.

Rescues offer a "glimmer" of hope, as Nepal marks the 13th anniversary of the disaster. This is the last day for Hindu mourning, and hundreds were killed in the floods.

Rescuers from the army said that 121 people out of a total of 900 missing in the hydroelectric project could have been trapped inside these tunnels. Other workers may have been at power plants, but not in the tunnel network.

Shri Ram Neupane said that four of the six people who were missing from the Chilime Hydropower Project in the hard-hit Rasuwa District could still be alive.

Neupane stated that authorities had acquired specialized equipment and identified the techniques required for the Chilime operations. Rescuers are concerned that survivors could be trapped in tunnels, because they have air pockets and spaces for people to rest.

Search teams have recently rescued four people in Nepal, including a Chinese citizen who was pulled out of a tunnel on Saturday. Two hydropower workers were rescued on Friday from another tunnel and a Nepali lady was pulled from her buried home on Saturday.

The home ministry announced that government offices in the Hindu majority nation and in missions abroad will fly the national flag in "half-mast" to mark the thirteenth day following death. According to the home ministry, the day is marked by rituals and food offering.

On August 26, a massive mass of rock and mud, resulting from the collapse of a part of the glacier, crashed in a river near the border of Tibet and Nepal. Floods washed towns and villages away and covered roads and highways in mud and debris.

In Nepal and Tibet, more than 5,500 people are still missing and at least 1,380 have died in the mudslide.

In a recent statement, the Nepali Foreign Ministry requested urgent supplies from the international community, including high capacity drones, Bailey Bridges, DNA Testing Kits, Tunnel Rescue Suits, and items to prevent epidemics.

CHINA SAYS IT WILL SHARE INFORMATION PROMPTLY

Chinese officials announced on Sunday that they had recovered 12 more bodies in the ongoing search for hundreds of people still missing in Tibet. Many of the missing are Indians and people with Indian ancestry who were in the region in connection to trips to Mount Kailash or Lake Mansarovar in Tibet. These holy Hindu pilgrimage places are located in Tibet.

At a recent press conference, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said that China would continue to make "every effort" to conduct search and rescue operations as well as handle any post-disaster issues.

China is under pressure from 'families of missing foreign visitors in Tibet' who say they are struggling to get information about their missing relatives.

Mao stated that Beijing would release "updated data on the situation and rescue operations." China invited eight journalists, including from, for the first-time to visit the core affected areas on Sunday.

Nepal's government does not plan any other events to mark the day of mourning, as search teams are still searching for survivors.

Phanindra Paidle, of the National Emergency Operation Centre's (NEOC), said that there are no government programmes in place because the rescue and search operations continue to take place in flood-hit areas.

His aides said that President Ram Chandra Paudel would be touring the flood-hit areas and assessing the damage caused by this disaster on Monday.

In a post on social media, Prime Minister Balendra Shah stated that security personnel at Nuwakot district jail, one of two districts most affected by flooding, had saved 923 inmates from drowning when they moved them to an elevated building before floodwaters reached their low-lying structure on August 26.

Shah stated that authorities also captured 50 prisoners, who had broken down the prison walls and gates when flooding began and fled within 100 metres of their original location, as well.

(source: Reuters)