Officials said without giving details that five of the seven killed had been identified. (Representative)
Kathmandu:
Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in Bhutan on Thursday swept away a part of a small hydroelectric power plant, killing at least seven people and leaving 16 others missing, local media reported.
Officials said rescue and search teams have reached the area. His office said Prime Minister Lotay Tshering has arrived at the scene to assess the situation and guide the search and rescue operation.
A section of the 32 MW Yungichu hydro power project in a remote area in the east of the country was washed away, but the main part was not affected, the Bhutanese newspaper said in a Twitter post without elaborating.
State broadcaster BBS said seven bodies had been recovered so far and another 16 were missing.
Officials said without giving details that five of the seven killed had been identified.
Bhutani quoted an unnamed official from Druk Green Power in charge of building the plant as saying, “It’s a big disaster.” The official said that project workers were also among the missing.
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 10 people were killed when flash floods swept away a remote mountain camp.
This year, at least 25 people were killed and another 25 went missing in neighboring Nepal in 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 NDTV Staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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