194 Chinese workers stranded at hydropower project in Nepal

Eight days after a massive earthquake jolted the Himalayan nation, at least 194 Chinese workers remained stranded at a hydropower project construction site in Nepal's Dolakha district on Sunday.

The workers were stranded but safe at the Upper Tamakoshi hydropower project construction site in Dolakha district's Lamabagar area, Nepalese officials here said.

The workers are from the Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese company which is the contractor for civil construction works for the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Company Ltd, the officials said.

A worker from the Chinese firm told Xinhua news agency on Sunday that at least 194 Chinese workers were still trapped there while 35 others had been evacuated and five others had been airlifted earlier by the Nepali army.

Meanwhile, Peng Wei, economic councilor of the Chinese embassy in Nepal, told Xinhua on Sunday that more than 100 Chinese workers were trapped at the project construction site and they were all safe.

Senior Nepalese official Gajendra Thakur, who is involved in the rescue and relief operation in Dolakha district, said efforts were underway to rescue and airlift the Chinese workers to Kathmandu.

Ganesh Neupane, chief of the environment division of the Upper Tamakoshi hydropower project, told Xinhua the Chinese technicians and engineers, as well as 70 Nepalese workers with the hydropower project, were stranded in the powerhouse station after a massive landslide caused by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake blocked the 11-km Lamabagar-Gongar road.

"Big rocks falling subsequent to the landslides have blocked the road. All the Chinese and Nepalese employees would be airlifted to Kathmandu after the authorities clear the road," he said.