Nepal

The rescue team had been digging through mud, rock and water for days when a faint sign of life changed everything.

Nine days after the devastating floods tore through Nepal’s Trishuli River valley, two workers were pulled alive from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project on Friday.

Sanjay Sah, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor, were brought out by rescue teams and taken to an army hospital in Kathmandu. Their rescue has given fresh hope to teams still searching for people trapped inside other hydropower tunnels across the disaster zone.

The breakthrough came on the tenth day of the rescue operation.

Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said two workers had been rescued alive from the Trishuli 3A tunnel as the wider search continued in several affected districts. The ministry’s latest update said 13,093 people had been rescued across the disaster area, while around 5,083 people were still missing. Authorities had recovered 1,287 bodies by September 4. The figures are continuing to change as search teams reach more areas and verify information.

The two men were found inside a tunnel system that had been badly affected by the August 26 disaster. Floodwaters carrying huge amounts of mud, ice and rock swept through the Himalayan valley, damaging roads, bridges, homes and hydropower facilities.

At Trishuli 3A, rescuers had been trying to work out where the underground powerhouse and tunnel entrances were located after much of the surrounding area was transformed by the flood.

The search became more urgent after rescuers received indications that people could still be alive underground.

When voices were heard from inside the tunnel, teams began working towards the location. The rescue was complicated by water and heavy rock blocking the route. Rescue specialists had to clear a path and carefully move deeper into the damaged tunnel.

Then came the moment the teams had been waiting for.

The first worker was pulled out through an opening in the ground. Another was brought out soon afterwards. Images released by Nepali authorities showed rescuers surrounding the men as they were carried towards medical teams.

Sah, who had been working as a mechanical foreman, later described how he remained behind when the disaster struck. He said he had been in the control room and helped colleagues leave after they were warned about the danger.

He did not manage to get out himself.

Inside the tunnel, he spent the following days waiting for help. After his rescue, he said he had been reciting the Hare Krishna mantra while trapped underground.

Both men were taken for medical treatment. Their rescue was particularly significant because hundreds of other workers are still unaccounted for from hydropower projects in the affected region.

Nepal’s government says search operations are continuing at several sites, including Langtang, Chilime, Upper Trishuli 1, Upper Trishuli 3A and Upper Trishuli 3B. Tunnel rescue teams from India, China and South Korea are working alongside Nepali security forces and disaster-response agencies.

The scale of the disaster remains enormous, latest Nepal government update puts the number of missing people at more than 5,000. More than 300 foreigners are among those rescued, while around 600 foreigners from 35 countries remain missing, according to the same update.

India is also continuing to search for its nationals. The Ministry of External Affairs said on September 4 that 275 Indian nationals remained missing in Nepal, while 166 had been rescued. India has deployed tunnel-rescue specialists, forensic experts and medical personnel and has supplied relief material to support the operation.

The successful rescue at Trishuli 3A has changed the mood of the operation, even if only slightly.

For days, the focus had been on clearing collapsed tunnels and reaching areas where survival seemed increasingly uncertain. Finding two people alive after nine days has shown rescuers that some workers may have survived in protected sections of the underground structures.

But the danger has not gone away, teams are still working inside unstable, water-filled tunnels where another collapse or sudden movement of water could put rescuers themselves at risk. Every section has to be cleared carefully before teams can move farther inside.

The search will continue. For the families waiting outside the tunnels, Friday’s rescue offered something that had been disappearing with every passing day with hope.

Two workers went into the tunnel before the flood changed everything around them. Nine days later, they came back out alive.

And somewhere deeper inside the damaged hydropower network, rescue teams are still listening for another voice.