Rescue and search teams rushed to the area, authorities said. (representative)
kathmandu:
About 20 people were missing in Bhutan after flash floods triggered by heavy rains washed away part of a small hydroelectric power station on Thursday, a local newspaper reported.
Rescue and search teams rushed to the area, authorities said. Prime Minister Lotay Tshering is on his way to the site, his office added.
Part of the 32 MW Yungichhu Hydro Power Project in a remote area in the east of the country was washed away, but most of it was not hit, the Bhutanese newspaper said in a Twitter post without elaborating.
“It’s a major disaster,” it quoted an unnamed Druk Green Power official, who is responsible for building the plant. Project workers were also among the missing, the official added.
Reuters calls to Druk Green Power were not immediately answered.
Such major tragedies are relatively rare in Bhutan, which lies between China and India and has a population of just 750,000. But in 2021, at least ten people were killed when flash floods washed away a remote mountain camp.
This year in neighboring Nepal, at least 25 people have been killed and another 25 are missing from flash floods and landslides triggered by the annual monsoon rains that began in June.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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