Maps, last locations, experts: How a WhatsApp group is helping Nepal rescuers navigate difficult tunnel terrain

Engineers, on WhatsApp, are sharing tunnel maps and drawings that show where the paths lead.

A WhatsApp group created by engineers just before disaster struck Nepal’s Trishuli valley is now helping rescuers navigate tunnels buried under tonnes of mud, rocks and debris. The group reportedly has more than 500 members, including engineers, former hydropower employees, government officials and other experts.

Security personnel conduct the mass burial of unidentified flood victims at the Gokarna forest reserve in Kathmandu on September 1, 2026. (AFP)

The August 26 disaster sent a massive wall of water, mud and rocks down the valley following a glacial and mountain collapse near the Nepal-China (Tibet) border. At least 1,287 people have died, according to official records, while nearly 4,000 remain missing.

With search teams racing against time, the engineers’ group has emerged as an unlikely lifeline, providing rescuers with crucial information about buried hydropower projects, according to a Reuters report.

Last week, as rescuers searched the buried remains of the Chilime hydropower plant in the Himalayan valley near the Chinese border, a government official turned to the group for help. “Can you send me Chilime layout drawings,” the official wrote. Minutes later, a member responded with drawings of the project’s powerhouse and details of its access tunnels.

How the WhatsApp group is helping

The group has become a real-time support network for rescuers. The idea is -- rescuers face a problem, they ask the engineers and someone familiar with the plant responds.

Engineers are sharing tunnel maps and drawings that show where the paths lead, where chambers are located and how different parts of the plants are connected.

Former plant workers are also helping rescuers navigate the tunnels. Their experience inside the facilities can be crucial when floodwaters and debris have changed the landscape, the report added.

The group is also helping track missing workers. Members share their names and mobile numbers with officials, who can pass the information to telecom authorities. Their last recorded phone locations could provide clues about where they were when the disaster struck.

"The flood has altered the terrain around the tunnels and changed their structure, while mud, rocks, soil and other debris had accumulated inside," Nepal army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told Reuters. “This is not a normal closure of tunnels.”

A mechanical foreman said he stayed behind in a control room to help others escape after he asked colleagues to flee upon hearing news of the disaster. "I was in the control room, so my responsibility was to save everyone's lives. When there was such a big accident, it was not right for me to run away," he said, as per Reuters.

Hope inside the tunnels

Nepal’s Independent Power Producers’ Association said at least eight people could be trapped at Chilime, while a Nepal Electricity Authority official said up to 46 people may be trapped at the Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant further south.

At Rasuwagadhi, rescuers managed to enter about 250 metres into one tunnel before it was blocked. The search, though, is still on.

"We are trying to reach there inside again to look for people," said Amshu Kiran Shahi, a Nepal electricity authority board member. He said the 46 workers could be trapped in a chamber with access to food and water.

A Nepal electricity authority manager said rescuers used the WhatsApp group to seek advice from former plant workers, who shared useful drawings, as per Reuters.

At Upper Trishuli 3A, rescuers took nearly six days to reach a buried tunnel. They also pumped oxygen into possible cavities where workers could be trapped. The breakthrough came on Friday, when two workers were rescued alive from the tunnel, nine days after the disaster.

They were identified as 30-year-old mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah and 45-year-old mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan.

"As long as there is breath, there is hope!" energy minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said in a statement. "Rescue operations are continuing in all the affected tunnels. Let everyone's efforts and prayers continue. We have not lost hope."

A ‘miracle’ rescue

This comes as rescue teams pulled out two workers alive from the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel on Friday. The Nepali Army described the operation as a “miraculous victory of hope”.

"I am so happy, my heart is lighter," Amir Maharjan, the brother of one of the rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, told news agency AFP.

Lakshmi Naini, who said Maharjan was her brother-in-law, waited outside the hospital in Kathmandu after hearing that he had survived. "It's a miracle! I am very happy," she told AFP. "I heard he is alive through social media, and I could not believe it."

"I have no words to express how I feel," said another relative.

The WhatsApp group is operating alongside helicopters, excavators, oxygen pipes and teams working directly at the damaged sites.

Nepal floods: Death toll

The August 26 disaster began after a vast glacial and rock collapse on a mountain near the China-Nepal border sent an enormous surge of water, ice, mud and debris down the Trishuli valley. Nepal’s foreign minister Shisir Khanal described the wave as a "Himalayan tsunami".

At least 1,259 bodies had been recovered and 5,083 people remained missing, Nepal’s disaster authority said. China reported 21 deaths and 541 missing people in Tibet, taking the combined toll to 1,287 dead and 5,624 missing.

More than 800 foreigners from at least 34 countries are among those missing across Nepal and Tibet. Some families, facing days without news, have begun holding symbolic funerals.