POKHARA, JUL 06 –
At least six workers, including one Chinese national, have sustained injuries while digging a tunnel at the Upper Madi Khola Hydropower project in Kaski district on Sunday.
Three of the injured are receiving medical treatment at Manipal Teaching Hospital while the rest have returned home after receiving primary medical attention.
According to Gun Prasad Baral, Chairman of All Nepal Revolutionary Trade Union, the hydropower project workers were injured when a boulder fell down on them during the construction of a tunnel in Sindujure-7.
One Chinese national, Santosh Waiba and Himal Rai are receiving treatment at Manipal Hospital. Project coordinator Bir Bikram Rana said that he has no knowledge of the incident as he was attending a wedding ceremony.
SP Basanta Kumar Lama of the Kaski police informed that details about the incident are awaited.
Earlier, 16 workers were trapped after the tunnel of the under-construction Upper Madi Khola Hydropower Project in Sindujure, Kaski had collapsed on April 25. Three workers had lost their lives in the incident however the twelve Nepalese and a Chinese national were among those freed after the incident. Another technician was also killed in a landslide at the same site on September 5, 2013.
The hydropower project, planned to generate 25-MW electricity, has a joint investment of the China International Water and Electric Corporation, a subsidiary of the China Three Gorges Corporation, and the Nepali private sector. The project is worth Rs 5.28 billion.
