More than 800 people working at hydropower projects and related facilities remain unaccounted for nearly a month after the Bhotekoshi floods, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Biraj Bhakta Shrestha told Parliament on Wednesday.

Shrestha said the government would continue search and rescue operations for as long as there was a possibility of finding survivors.

“The most painful aspect of any disaster is the loss of life,” Shrestha told the House of Representatives. “According to the information we have received, more than 800 people working at various hydropower projects and structures are still unaccounted for.”

Of those missing, 47 are employees of the Nepal Electricity Authority, he said.

The largest number of missing people are linked to the 216-MW Upper Trishuli-1 project. Of the 1,433 people working there before the flood, 955 were rescued or later made contact themselves, while 439 remain unaccounted for, according to the minister.

A Chinese national was rescued alive from the project on the 12th day after the flood. Thirty-nine bodies have so far been recovered from the project’s tunnel, Shrestha said.

At the Upper Trishuli-3A project, 39 people remain unaccounted for. Two employees, Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan, were rescued alive on the 10th day of the disaster. One body was recovered from the project.

Shrestha said 178 people remain unaccounted for at Upper Trishuli-3B, 93 at Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project, seven at Mailung Khola Hydropower Project and three at Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project.

At Langtang Khola Hydropower Project, 39 people are still missing. Nineteen people were rescued, and two bodies were recovered, he said.

Five Nepal Electricity Authority employees were found dead during search and rescue operations at the powerhouse of Chilime Hydropower Station. One employee remains unaccounted for.

Two people are missing from the Madhya Trishuli Ganga Hydropower Project and three from the Trishuli Hydropower Station. Employees are also missing from the Devighat Hydropower Station, the Trishuli-3B hub, the Rasuwa Distribution Centre and the Chilime-Trishuli transmission line, although the minister did not give separate figures for those sites.

“The government has accorded high priority to the search and rescue of people trapped inside underground hydropower structures or otherwise missing because of the disaster,” Shrestha said.

The search has involved elected representatives, the Home Ministry, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the Nepali Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, local authorities, private companies, national and international tunnel specialists, geologists, engineers, technicians, rescue personnel and the victims’ families.

Shrestha said the Nepal Electricity Authority had arranged vehicles and a dedicated helicopter for rescue operations and was coordinating the mobilisation of explosives, fuel, equipment and specialised personnel. The authority’s resources, he said, were being used for all affected areas rather than only for its own facilities.

The government has also decided to provide Rs500,000 in immediate relief to the families of missing Nepal Electricity Authority employees and pay them 50 percent of their salaries for six months, Shrestha said.