On Thursday, flash floods caused by heavy rains washed away a piece of a small hydroelectric plant in Bhutan, leaving about 20 people missing.
Authorities said that rescue and search teams had rushed to the scene.
“Lotay Tshering, the Prime Minister, is on his way to the site”, the PM’s office said.
According to the Bhutanese newspaper, the main part of the 32 MW Yungichhu Hydro Power Project in a remote area in the east of the country was not affected.
“It is a major disaster”, said an official from Druk Green Power, the company in charge of the plant’s construction.
The official also stated that project personnel were absent.
Major disasters of this kind are uncommon in Bhutan which is located between China and India and has a population of only 750,000 people.
However, in 2021, sudden floods washed away an isolated mountain camp, killing at least ten people.
This year, flash floods and landslides induced by the annual monsoon rains that began in June have killed at least 25 people and left another 25 missing in neighboring Nepal.
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