Rescue teams pulled two men from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal on Friday, nine days after a devastating glacier collapse on August 26 killed over 1,200 people and trapped workers in multiple underground projects.
Two workers were extracted alive from the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Nepal on Friday, marking the first successful rescue from the hydropower projects affected by the August 26 disaster. Sanjay Sah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor, were pulled from a depth of 170 meters after being trapped underground for nine days. According to Nepal's prime minister's office, Sah was in stable condition while Maharjan required intensive care. Both men were transported to an army hospital in Kathmandu with vital signs reported as stable.
The August 26 glacier and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border triggered catastrophic flooding that has killed at least 1,252 people in Nepal according to one source, with another reporting at least 1,280 deaths. More than 4,200 people remain missing across Nepal, and China has reported 21 deaths with 541 missing in Tibet. The disaster destroyed approximately 7,500 homes and caused an estimated $2.56 billion in property, housing, and infrastructure losses. Officials believe at least 900 workers may have been trapped in tunnels related to six hydropower projects along the Trishuli River.
Rescue experts attribute the workers' survival to an air pocket within the tunnel that contained breathable oxygen. Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix explained that workers likely fled upward through the tunnel as floodwaters surged, with the trapped water and debris eventually forming a barrier that protected them. Dix noted that rescue teams heard faint responses from inside the tunnel on Friday before drilling through the blockage. Sah reported spending time reciting mantras while trapped and indicated that three or four more people might still be alive in the tunnel, with possibly more in deeper sections.
The rescue has renewed hope for locating additional survivors. At least 35 workers are believed to remain trapped within the Trishuli 3A tunnel alone. Ongoing search and rescue operations continue at multiple sites across at least 12 hydropower projects affected by the floods, supported by rescue teams from Nepal, India, China, and South Korea. Rescue workers have been using excavators to clear debris and installing pipes to pump clean air into the tunnels to prevent air from becoming toxic.