Overview
- Two men identified as Sanjay (Sanjaya) Sah and Kabir Maharjan were pulled alive from about 170 metres inside the Trishuli 3A tunnel after days of digging, with one reported stable and the other in critical condition in intensive care.
- Rescuers first picked up voices and established brief contact before intensifying manual tunnelling, use of explosives and heavy equipment to reach the trapped workers inside the more-than-4-kilometre underground gallery.
- The breakthrough comes nine days after the Aug. 26 glacier-related collapse triggered fast-moving floods of water, ice and sediment that devastated the Trishuli/Bhotekoshi valleys and buried multiple hydro projects.
- Officials say the floods have killed more than 1,200 people and left several thousand missing, with about 900 hydro project workers unaccounted for across 12 sites and an estimated 500 possibly trapped in tunnels.
- Teams led by Nepal’s Army and Police are continuing high-risk searches in mud-choked tunnels with help from Indian, South Korean and Chinese experts while humanitarian shipments and emergency supplies arrive to support survivors and responders.