Engineers use WhatsApp to guide search for survivors in flood-hit Nepal hydropower tunnels

An army of experts in a WhatsApp group is guiding rescue workers scouring a Nepali valley after a huge flash flood more than a week ago as they desperately search for anyone who may be alive inside tunnels of devastated hydropower plants.

The messaging group was set up by engineers before the wall of water, mud and rock crashed down the Trishuli valley in Nepal on August 26. It has since become a valuable tool alongside helicopters and heavy machinery in the race to find survivors.