Rescuers on Saturday successfully extracted two workers from the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel, 170 metres below ground, nine days after a massive flash flood ripped through Nepal’s border with the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet. The tunnel, buried under meters of mud and debris, had been inaccessible since the flood on Aug. 26, which was triggered by the sudden collapse of a Himalayan glacier.
Rescue operation details
According to the BBC, the rescue team first had to locate a hidden tunnel entrance that had been completely obscured by landslide material. Engineers then used controlled explosions to break apart rocks the size of cars, creating a narrow corridor that allowed rescue crews to advance. A WhatsApp group of engineers, highlighted by Reuters, coordinated the technical aspects of the operation in real time, sharing measurements, ventilation data and drill‑site updates.
The two survivors, identified by local authorities as a Nepali laborer and an Australian engineer assisting the project, were found after rescuers pushed through a 30‑metre stretch of water‑logged passage. The men were pulled to the surface alive but were immediately taken to a field hospital for treatment of hypothermia and minor injuries.
"Rescuers pulled two men alive from a tunnel 170 metres deep after nine days of mud and flood debris," the BBC reported.
Wider impact and ongoing search
The rescue comes amid a broader humanitarian crisis. The flash flood, described by The New York Times as the worst natural disaster in Nepal in decades, left at least 1,400 people dead and thousands more missing. Officials continue to search for survivors inside other collapsed hydropower sites and in remote mountain villages cut off by landslides.
Al Jazeera noted that the successful extraction of the two workers “raises hope that more people could still be found alive.” However, the scale of the devastation means that recovery efforts are hampered by damaged roads, ongoing aftershocks, and limited access to medical supplies. France 24 reported that aid agencies are using zip‑lines to deliver medicine and food to isolated communities still reeling from the disaster.
Aftermath and mourning
Families of the missing are confronting a grim reality. The New York Times documented that many have turned to symbolic cremations, lighting pyres for straw effigies of relatives whose bodies have not yet been recovered. DNA testing, explained by Al Jazeera, is being employed to identify remains that are heavily decomposed or mutilated, a process that can take weeks.
While the rescue of the two tunnel workers offers a rare bright spot, relief agencies warn that the death toll could rise as more bodies are recovered and as the monsoon season approaches. The Nepalese government, supported by international partners, has pledged to accelerate reconstruction of the damaged hydropower infrastructure and to improve early‑warning systems for glacial lake outbursts, a concern highlighted by France 24’s analysis of the event’s precursors.
For now, the rescued men remain under observation, and the search for the estimated “hundreds” of missing persons continues. The operation demonstrates both the resilience of Nepal’s rescue personnel and the formidable challenges that natural disasters pose to the country’s mountainous terrain.
