Ram Budha travelled once again on Sunday morning to the mouth of a tunnel in Rasuwa where he believes his younger brother has been trapped for five days.

Standing a short distance inside the tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project at Hakubesi, Ram shouted repeatedly, hoping to hear the voice of his 20-year-old brother Prabin Budha from somewhere in the darkness.

There was no response.

Ram waited for a while before walking back out, disappointed but still unwilling to abandon hope.

A resident of Patarasi Rural Municipality-5 in Jumla, Ram has been returning to the tunnel every day since floods swept through the area, cutting off contact with his brother and other workers inside.

“I went to the mouth of the tunnel again this morning and called out to my brother. There was no response,” Ram told the Post on Sunday morning. “My hope is fading. We know nothing about the conditions inside the tunnel.”

Ram and relatives of other missing workers arrived in the Trishuli area on Sunday morning. On Saturday, he entered the tunnel himself in search of his brother and the others.

He managed to go around 100 metres inside, despite thick mud deposited by the floodwaters.

“The mud came up to my chest. I went about 100 metres inside and shouted as loudly as I could, but there was no response,” he said. “Then I had to come back out.”

Since the first day of the disaster, Ram has repeatedly appealed to the Nepali Army to rescue his brother and other workers trapped inside. The army has told him that rescue efforts are underway.

“The rescue could not happen quickly,” he said. “I have now heard that a Chinese team has also arrived. I just hope we can soon find out what the situation is inside the tunnel.”

Ram and Prabin had both been working at the Upper Trishuli-1 project in Hakubesi, Rasuwa. Ram had been employed there for about a year.

Prabin, who had recently completed Grade 12, had been preparing to go abroad for work. His paperwork was being processed in Kathmandu, and he had joined his elder brother at the hydropower project to earn money for his planned journey overseas.

“Rather than sitting idle while his documents were being processed, I brought him to work with me so he could earn some money,” Ram said.

Back home in Jumla, their parents have been anxiously waiting for news. Ram said he has been trying to reassure them that search efforts are continuing.

He said he had received information that around 25 people from Patarasi, including his brother, were trapped inside the tunnel. Relatives of the missing workers have been calling him constantly, asking for updates.

The day before the flood hit the Bhotekoshi river system, Ram had left Hakubesi for Kathmandu, leaving his younger brother at the project site.

On the day of the disaster, Prabin and around 25 other workers from Jumla were working inside Tunnel No 216 of the Upper Trishuli-1 project.

The project is being built by Sinohydro Corporation. Ram had joined the project about a year ago and brought his younger brother to Rasuwa around a month ago because the work offered relatively good earnings.