Overview
- Rescue teams reached two men inside the Trishuli 3A tunnel after listening for voices, with the first confirmed extractions reported on Friday, Sept. 4, and further survivors found in following days.
- The men were identified as Sanjay (Sanjaya) Sah and Kabir Maharjan; Sah was reported stable and Maharjan was taken to intensive care with critical injuries.
- Both survivors told rescuers there are other people alive underground, and those accounts have driven a stepped-up effort to clear long, debris-choked tunnel passages.
- Authorities say the Aug. 26 glacier collapse and flood left more than 1,200 dead and roughly 5,000 missing, with about 900 hydro project workers unaccounted for and an estimated 500 possibly trapped in tunnels.
- Operations face major limits because thick mud, rock and damaged access routes force slow manual excavation and selective use of heavy machinery, which has led Nepal to accept specialist teams and equipment from India, South Korea and China and raised questions about tunnel rescue readiness and infrastructure risks going forward.