Kathmandu, Sept. 3 -- As rescue operations continue in Nepal's flood-hit hydropower plants, renowned tunnel expert Arnold Dix, who is remotely assisting in the rescue operation at Trishuli 3A, has said that people can survive underground much longer than expected.

"A tunnel is an engineered environment: sheltered from weather, comparatively thermally stable, and potentially capable of preserving breathable air and survivable refuge after everything above has been devastated," he wrote in LinkedIn on Thursday.

As of Thursday afternoon, police have confirmed the death of 1,252 people after a massive flood lashed districts in central Nepal on August 26. Over 4,000 remain missing and over 2.5 million people downstream of the Nepal-Tibet bor...