Nepal Rescues Two Workers Trapped in Flooded Tunnel

Kathmandu (GNP): Two workers trapped inside a hydropower tunnel in Nepal have been rescued alive, nine days after devastating flash floods buried the project site in mud and cut off their escape. The rescue took place during an ongoing operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, located in one of the districts hit hardest by last week’s floods.

Army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet confirmed that the two men, Sanjay Shah and Kabir Maharjan, were pulled from a depth of 170 metres inside the tunnel. Shah, the tunnel’s foreman, was rescued first and taken to the Nepal Army barracks in Trishuli, followed shortly after by Maharjan, a supervisor at the site. Both men were later flown to a hospital in Kathmandu and are reported to be in stable condition.

Recounting his ordeal, Shah said his first instinct after the flood struck was to help evacuate the control room, where far more people than usual, close to 40 to 45 workers, happened to be present at the time. He said he had urged everyone to run once he realized a major accident had occurred at the dam, and that the time spent warning others cost him his own chance to escape.

Shah said he had passed the days trapped in darkness by chanting mantras and maintaining contact with a handful of nearby workers through shouted messages.

Nepal’s communication minister Bikram Timilsina said authorities remain hopeful that further survivors will be located as rescue operations continue. The floods, triggered by the collapse of a melting glacier along the Nepal-China border in the Tibet region, devastated hydropower projects along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers, burying tunnel entrances under boulders and thick mud. At the Upper Trishuli 3A site alone, rescue teams needed nearly six days just to locate the tunnel entrances before extraction work could begin.

More than 270 workers have now been rescued across the affected hydropower projects, with rescuers crediting air pockets inside the tunnels for keeping trapped workers alive for over a week. According to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, at least 557 workers remain missing from projects along the Trishuli River, with around 115 believed to still be trapped inside the main tunnel.

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Local authorities estimate that roughly 900 workers remain missing across 12 hydropower projects in the Himalayan region, with close to 500 believed to be trapped inside various tunnels.

Search efforts are also focused on the Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant, where officials say they believe 46 workers trapped inside an underground chamber remain alive.

Families of the missing have continued to gather at hospitals in Kathmandu and at the national electricity office for over a week, seeking updates on their loved ones. The country’s disaster management agency has confirmed at least 1,259 deaths from the floods, with more than 5,000 people still listed as missing.

Shah said, “I couldn’t just run away by myself. I had to save everyone.”