Two hydropower workers were rescued alive from a tunnel in Nepal on Friday, nine days after catastrophic floods and landslides buried several energy projects and left hundreds of workers unaccounted for.
The two men were brought out from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project, offering a major breakthrough in a rescue operation that has been underway since the disaster struck on August 26.
Nepal’s Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha confirmed that a person had been safely evacuated from the tunnel, while Home Minister Sudan Gurung later announced that a second worker had also been rescued.
“We have just received news that another person...has also been rescued,” Gurung said in a statement.
Nepal Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet separately confirmed the first rescue, according to AP.
Images broadcast by local television showed the worker, covered in mud, being carried away from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder.
The rescued workers were identified as Sanjaya Shah and Kabir Maharjan, the BBC reported. Suresh Raut, a senior Nepal Electricity Authority official at the site, told the BBC that rescuers were supplying oxygen to one of the men following his evacuation.
The rescue followed reports that voices had been detected inside the tunnel, prompting teams to accelerate efforts to break through the debris.
Nepali lawmaker and engineer Shri Ram Neupane, who has been involved in the operation, said rescuers had called out to those inside and received a response.
The Trishuli 3A complex has a tunnel stretching more than four kilometres towards its underground powerhouse. Rescue teams have been using heavy machinery and specialised equipment to clear the passages, while Nepali Army and Armed Police Force personnel have been working to gain access to the trapped workers.
The successful evacuation has raised hopes for others still missing across Nepal’s hydropower sector.
Local authorities estimate that around 900 workers remain unaccounted for from 12 hydropower projects, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped inside tunnels, the AP reported.
At Trishuli 3A alone, at least 40 people had remained unaccounted for following the flooding.
Destroyed infrastructure, unstable terrain, debris-filled tunnels and difficult weather conditions have complicated the rescue effort. Several projects are located in remote mountainous areas, making it difficult to move machinery and emergency teams to the affected sites.
At another facility, the Rasuwa Langtang Khola Hydropower Project, Army rescuers recovered two bodies from a tunnel after advancing about 150 metres into the passage. Forty-one people working at the 20-MW project were still unaccounted for, according to information from the rescue operation.
The August 26 disaster devastated parts of Nepal, with floodwaters and landslides sweeping through settlements and hydropower facilities. Nepal’s disaster management authorities have put the death toll at 1,259, while more than 5,000 people remain missing.
The disaster also crossed into Tibet, where Chinese authorities reported 21 deaths and 541 people missing as of Wednesday.
The scale of the losses has made the survival of the two Trishuli 3A workers particularly significant, coming well beyond the period rescuers typically regard as the most critical for people trapped underground.
Indian Army Colonel Parikshit Mehra, who has been involved in the rescue operation, told CNN earlier this week that the first 48 hours are crucial for people trapped in tunnels because prolonged darkness and confinement can cause severe disorientation.